


It's Just a Spark

by AudeTheThird



Category: The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Angst, BROTP Tazertricks, Bucky fix-it, But she doesn't know that, But worth it!, Darcy Lewis is Tony Stark's Daughter, Darcy Stark, Drama, Drama Llama, F/M, Jane Foster & Darcy Lewis Friendship, Loki rehab, Slow Build, Surrogate Dad Clint, Triggers, WinterShock - Freeform, but like the good ones, few cliches, kidnap, like really, longfic, sciencebros, slow, thor/loki bromance
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-11-06
Updated: 2016-06-13
Packaged: 2018-02-24 07:20:09
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 40
Words: 122,979
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2573006
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AudeTheThird/pseuds/AudeTheThird
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Darcy is having all sorts of dramas, and that's well before Bucky. He isn't even present in her life until later, much later, but by god, he's like a firework, everything that's excellent and good and pretty. </p><p>She's never known her dad but she has all these excellent superheros stepping up to that plate, so maybe her life isn't that bad. If she could get rid of the nightmares, and Loki's abysmal emo-kid attitude, she'd have it pretty good.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

"Loki. For the crimes you have committed against your people, and against those of Midgaurd, I hereby strip you of your title-"

Thor stiffened from beside him. It would mean that to his father, they were no longer brothers, officially speaking.

"I take from you your power-"

Loki flinched as the old man stole his most precious weapon away from him, making him sway dangerously until Thor's hand steadied him.

"And I cast you from Asgaurd until you truly learn your lesson." the one eye Odin retrained grew wet around the corners. "Until you do, your power remains here, and you will never return. Your title I will never return to you." his voice cracked.

"Father-"

"No. Escort him to the bifrost and see him off." Thor tried to make one more protest but the slamming hand of his father upon the throne cut him short. The echo of his anger rang around the halls, and Thor put his arm around Loki's shoulders, gritting his teeth.

Loki could feel the king still taking his magic, his strength, rendering him human. He was lucky he had time to tuck away just a small slice of it, good for perhaps a minor spell, before he was inexplicably human, and had no choice but for his brother to help him walk.

It was one of the longest walks in his life.

Heimdall made no pretenses, he just watched. Thor reached for the gag and undid it, tossing it absent mindedly to the floor. Loki let his hands be untied, then rubbed his mouth, his eyes focused on the hitch between the red cape and the silver armor.

"Well." he said, but that was all he could say. He felt ill. Incredibly weak. Heimdall opened the gate, but for the first time Loki was frightened of using it. This, human body, he had seen how fragile it was. Would his father let this body rot on the path to Midgaurd?

Thor stepped up beside him.

"My prince," Heimdall said, rumbling lowly. "Think of what this will mean to your-"

"My father did not say that I must return to his side once letting my brother on the bifrost." he lifted his chin. "We will go together."

Loki said nothing as Thor's hand clamped down on the back of his neck. He took in a long, steadying breath, and braced as the bifrost swept him up, spinning him around, bouncing them both off of walls made of pure magic.

For Loki, who had always managed himself well in the transport, this was a somewhat unpleasant thing - he felt as though he couldn't breathe, as though his stomach was liquefying and seeping out of his body. Thor's hand drew him closer and in an act of desperation, Loki's fists found his cape and held on tight.

They hit the floor hard enough to knock the wind from his chest.

"Loki?" Thor sat him up, checking briefly over his legs. "Are you hurt?"

He shook his head, looking over his hands. Finally catching his breath, he stared at the blonde, who had sat back onto his rear, studying the sky around him. Mjolnir sat beside him, humming dully.

"Why?" Loki got to his feet, leaning to one side as he looked around. "Why would you do that? Come with me?"

"Midgaurd is a dangerous place for you." Thor hefted himself off the ground. "There are powerful men who you have wounded, who all detest you. And there are things here you won't understand."

"So I have you to rely on when it comes to Midgaurdian customs." Loki turned on him, sneering. "I would feel much safer without your 'help'."

"Curse me as you like." Thor shrugged one shoulder, bending down to pick up his weapon, tucking it in his belt. "You are without any means to rid yourself of me. And you know how my absence will aggravate father, so you will keep me if only to achieve that." He looked around, squinting at the landscape.

"Fine." Loki rubbed his shoulders, which were tingling from the travel through the magic road. "Where are we then, o great navigator?"

There was a pause.

"I have no clue." he muttered. "We must find a road, and new clothes for ourselves. Perhaps I can contact Jane - she will know what to do."

"That's just perfect." Loki simply started walking in any direction. " _Perfect_. Not only have I lost my magic but I am stuck with _you_ , in addition to not having the slightest idea where we are, and now I have to face you in love with the scrawny human."

"She is not scrawny." Thor growled. "She is... lovely."

Loki wanted to correct him but he also wanted to keep his tongue, looking around the land. It looked like a desert - red dirt and bright blue sky. He thought that maybe Heimdall would be a proper petty god and cast him directly into the clutches of those humans who kept the monster... but he had perhaps done him no favors by sending him here.

Probably because Thor was with him.

"We should fly." his brother mused. "It will be faster."

"And where exactly will I go?"

Thor redrew his weapon.

"I have a free arm." he flexed his fingers at him. "Come. The sooner we find Jane, the better."

"I don't want to find her." Loki lifted his nose. "You find her. And then if can can drag yourself away from your 'lovely' little mortal, you can find me." he made to walk in some direction, maybe with a dark blot on the horizon, but Thor's meaty hand scooped him up by the collar as he flew over head.

He cursed him to all nine realms, but over the roar of wind - or through his ego - Thor could not hear him. All Loki could do was reach up and hold onto his brother's wrist, terrified that the oaf might let him fall and break.

* * *

They caused quite a stir as they went into the library.

"And here I thought you had no idea what a library was." Loki drawled.

Thor gave him a flat look.

"You wouldn't know the kind that Midgaurd keeps. I do. Now hush."

"That is nothing to be so proud of,  _brother_."

"I said  _hush_."

Loki flattened his hair back against his skull, casting a look around the small book keep. Not a soul stirred beyond the counter, the place was empty. He could see there was only one level of books - a children's section, identified by the bright colors, tiny chairs, stuffed toys and the sign that said: "Children's Section."

"Hello." his brother said cheerfully.

"Howdy there!"

"I... need help?"

"Sure, what can I do for ya?"

"Nor me or my brother are any good with..." Loki could hear him struggling for the words. "Computers... I need your help employing the search tool Google?"

"Okay." the girl laughed, too loudly for a librarian. "What can I Google for you?"

"I need to find the contact details for Jane Foster. She is a scientist. I last heard of her working in conjunction with Eric Selvig, and a college student named Darcy Lewis."

"Alrighty, just give it time to load... I put all those names in, we should get something."

"Thank you."

Loki took a few steps closer to the 'Non-Fiction' isle, peering around the corner. The girl made idle chat about the day, and Thor made his 'mm's and 'yes, indeed's. He ran his fingers over the names, etched prettily or no-so-prettily, different colors and sizes. It was new to him that books weren't made the same size. He quite liked the disorder.

"Brother." he said loudly, selecting a book and pulling it forward. "Ask where we are."

He heard the question repeated.

"Texas." he heard the sure reply.

The world map was placed open as he flipped to the back - he found 'Texas' and went to the required page, wishing he just had magic do it for him. He felt like a thunderstorm in the otherwise quiet library. He wondered if this was how Thor always felt.

The shape of Texas was strange. He didn't particularly like it, which he hadn't been expecting to be so offended by the shape of a state. He ran his hand over his brow to find a collection of sweat there - this human body hated the heat. He wondered if he were still part ice giant, of if Odin had stolen that, too.

He lifted his hand and called forth his true skin - but he did not change. Nothing in him stirred like it usually did, nothing in his mind begged for release. He was simply human, then.

How irritating.

Thor's boot steps made him put his hand down and straighten to see a smile on his face.

"Jane is in the next state. I procured her number and called ahead." he saw the map. "New Mexico! Show me, and I can fly us there now!"

"Why... do they have a New Mexico? What happened to the old one?"

"I don't know, Loki, just show me the map."

"What is your plan, when we get to this... Newer, Mexico?" Loki marked the page with his finger and flipped to the back of the book, scowling down for the name. "You cannot simply expect for this woman to keep us."

"Jane has a big heart." he said, clapping his brother's shoulder.

"Especially me, brother. She would not keep me."

Thor took a deep breath in, but squeezed his shoulder and continued smiling.

"She will if I ask it of her. I know she had little room last time we had met; but she can teach us the ways of this world so that we may find you your own means to live."

"So in the event that father demands you go home, I won't simply starve to death?" he fixed his brother with a long stare. "Or do you still not think him capable of such things?"

The smile on Thor's face melted away.

"What was I thinking? You hadn't even considered past reuniting with _precious, lovely Jane_. Of course not." he flipped through the book more angrily, his teeth grinding. "Why would you? I am just going to die on this wasteland of a planet, old and decrepit, and you and Heimdall and father will simply watch and pretend to mourn me."

"I mourn for you already, brother." Thor said very lowly, a mere rumble in his chest. "I mourn who you were when you were happy."

"I was never _happy_." Loki rose to his full height.

"You look upon our shared memories with such hatred. You think I am the creature who tormented you the most, but I remember you were not so easily bested. You cut Sif's hair when she and I grew fond of each other - that was something cruel to behold!"

Loki glared at the page, then smacked the book in Thor's direction, holding himself high as the librarian tried in earnest to keep her hands busy.

"Have a nice day!" she squeaked, to which he froze, wanted to retort, but slammed the door behind him. It took his brother another half an hour to have a route planned, and when he did, it was only because the girl had used the technology box to draw him a map, with a highlighted road to take.

"Take my arm." Thor said grumpily. "Or so help me, I will call or the gate to open and go home."

"Be my guest. Both of us know it's what you want."

"I want to help you. I want you to come home with me and be free of the darkness that hurts your heart!"

" _They_  lied to  _me_." he finally raised his stare to Thor's face. "Me. The master of Lies. Is it any wonder I was so good at them, when my whole life was built around one? I am not even of your  _creed_ , Thor."

"That does not mean you do not belong with me." Thor took his arm weather he liked it or not, and drew his hammer. "Think on that."

* * *

"Jane?" Thor was bounding around with the excess energy of an excited puppy. "Jane? Darcy! Eric! It is I!" he wound himself through all the rooms of the circular building, but they seemed not to be there.

Loki looked over the many pages spread out on the desk. Most were half finished maps of the bifrost's locales- he would know - and most were somewhat more intelligent, equaling to what appeared to be a gateway to Asgaurd...from Midgaurd...

"Does your Jane have any idea what she's toying with?" he wondered, meant for his brother's ears but missed. If she did manage to open a gate, Heimdall wouldn't have any control over it. It would open to another select part of the realm. With a few more tweaks, she would be very close.

"They are not here." Thor's eyes were red, and he was heavily breathing. Loki didn't mention the gnawing hunger in his belly when he saw the exhaustion on the bigger man's face - not because he felt burdened, but because he hated the idea of being so utterly human. "They may have retired to their caravans. But I know that she will be here, probably tomorrow."

"You look tired." Loki drawled. "Perhaps so much flying has over exerted you?"

"It has." Thor agreed. "But I do not need rest yet. I need to find Jane. She is close."

"Why don't we stay here the eve, and surprise her come the morning?"

"I will not rest while I believe you have intentions of leaving me." Thor said, brutally honest.

"What good would that serve me?" Loki spread his hands. "I am weak, I know no one, I am in a potentially dangerous situation. Tell me the logic in your accusation."

"You wear such a look on your face as though you mean to leave." Thor folded his arms across his chest. "Dispute that." Loki rolled his eyes.

"I wear no look. You know what I say is true." he briefly considered telling Thor that he needed to tend to - human matters - but refrained. "Thor, it would serve me ill to leave."

"You are a stubborn man, and you have always hated having my help. Don't think I do not know you as well as you know me."

Loki sighed.

"I will go to sleep before you, if it makes you feel at ease."

"It won't." his brother retorted.

Loki was quite content to lay about on their smelly brown couch until sleep came, but Thor removed the cushions and unfolded from it a bed. Loki's eyebrows raised.

"See?" he seemed quite proud of himself. "Look how clever Midgaurdians can be."

"Yes, yes, very clever." Loki took off his coat and rolled it into a pillow, before toeing off his boots and removing his vest, using that to keep his pillow in shape. He was in his pants and a green shirt, which was significantly kinder to him in the humidity. He lay down on the bed-couch, wiggled for comfort and stared at the ceiling.

His stomach growled and he stared at it, completely perplexed.

"It is the sound you make when you are hungry." Thor eased his significantly greater weight onto the bed and tucked his hands under his head. "I do not miss that. My stomach always complained in such a manner, even after I had ate."

Loki looked across at him.

"What are you doing?"

"Laying down."

"I thought you were staying awake?"

"I might as well have a small comfort."

"No." Loki lifted onto his elbows. "You will fall asleep if you stay still. It has always been the same. It is why mother had you try to learn the lute before bed every night. Not because precious Thor needed help with musical talents; because it kept you still."

"I was an accomplished lute player."

"You clearly affected your ears. It was akin to banshee's cries."

"Nonsense." the bigger brother scoffed. "Mother loved my playing - and so did you!"

"I don't know how you haven't noticed I am the God of Lies." he said grumpily, wiping his sleeve over his forehead to collect a smear of salty sweat. He felt sticky and undignified, and that didn't help his mood.

"Regardless. I am supposed to be guarding you, I won't sleep." Thor intoned.

"Yes, you will, I am certain. You kick, and snore - if I am human, you will break me."

"I do not kick. Anymore. I used to." he shifted self importantly on the bed-couch, and smiled at the roof. "Jane likes my snoring."

"No woman _likes_ snoring." Loki grumped, and rolled onto his side, punching his coat for something to do with his hands. "She just tells you pretty lies so you stay happy."

"If you insult Jane one more time, brother, I will kick you. It will be on purpose. And it will hurt."

"And father thinks you will make a good king." Loki folded his arms over his chest and tucked them under his pits. " _Your_  father." he corrected as an afterthought.

Thor didn't reply to that. Loki felt him wanting to say something, but he was left in the uncomfortable silence that followed.

"He does love you." he said, finally.

"I doubt he ever did. How could he?" his words were bitter. He did not want these emotions, he did not want the heat, he did not want the hunger in his belly or the ache behind his eyes. He didn't want the human blood in his veins and he didn't want the moon's light to fall directly into his face.

He didn't mind having Thor, however.


	2. Chapter 2

Jane had woken Darcy early that morning, intent on Thor's arrival. She had every intention of making some kind of feast for him to land to, so Darcy had some time to try and plan her argument that he didn't really need a shirt, charge her tazer - good old times, and what not - but when Jane opened the doors to her lab, she stopped in her tracks.

Vaguely, she was aware of Loki in the fetal position, his mouth open slightly. But she was much more concerned about the thick arm of her beloved hanging over his side - Thor was like a star fish, taking up most of the bed, while his brother was curled into whatever space he could find away from him.

"Facebook." Darcy said, and went over to them to snap a photo, balancing on the end of their bed.

"Don't put that on Facebook." was the gentle reply. "Just keep it."

"You're totally getting your Twilight kicks right now."

Jane went on tiptoe for added stealth. and knelt at his side, tucking her hair behind her ear to avoid it swinging down onto his face, smiling sweetly. She put her hand to his cheek, her thumb swiping gently over his beard - his eyes opened almost instantly, and his grin was wide.

"Hello." she beamed.

"Hello." he rolled into sitting quite gracefully, picking up her hand to press a dainty kiss on it.

"Oh, god. The cuteness. My eyes." Darcy went to Loki's side and cocked a brow at him. He looked really sweet, quite innocent, and was rocking the hell out of some leather pants. "Who's the dude?"

"That is my brother." Thor said absently.

"How are you?" Jane smiled at his face.

"I am well." he cupped her cheek, his eyes softening into pools of blue liquid. "How are you? Are you safe? Did S.H.E.I.L.D return to you what was owed?"

"Yes. Every bit. They've even given me some new things." Jane could feel heat pooling in her cheeks. There was a moment of softly focused staring, violins, rose petals falling. Then Jane opened her mouth.

"What's he doing here, Thor?"

"I fear it will take time to explain. Time, and understanding. He will not hurt you. He is unable to, a mere mortal, as I was. I would never put you in harm's way, Jane."

She surveyed the thinner god, still curled up, still asleep, and Darcy, who was tapping away on her phone.

"Don't post that photo." Jane chided lightly. "I think we need coffee."

"I will make it." he jumped to his feet, pulling her into standing, before wrapping his arms around her in a surprisingly gentle hug. "I have missed you."

"Me too." she said, muffled into his shoulder.

"Gag. Gag, gag, gag." Darcy flipped the air con on, which had an almost instant cooling affect. "C'mon, I'm starving."

* * *

When Loki woke, it was because his stomach was waking him, making that horrid gurgling noise. He felt utterly ill. But something smelled so good - he raised his head off the couch, sleep clogging one eye, to see his brother and two women sitting around a table, indulging in some kind of feast.

"Brother!" Thor got up and went over to him, collecting him by the arm. "This is Jane, my Jane - her good friend Darcy - have some breakfast - try coffee!"

He slammed a mug down on the table and manhandled him into a chair. Still mostly asleep than not, Loki massaged the throb behind his eyes, hoping to quell it through his temple.

"If it would stop you yelling." he took up the mug and sipped. The bitter taste was horrific - but the feeling of sustenance sliding down his throat made the throb in his brain halt. After a few more swallows, he looked at the little round pastries.

"Pancakes." Thor told him. "Maple syrup. Darcy made them, they are wonderful."

The dark haired girl ducked her eyes from Thor's praise, though she smiled at her own plate.

"Thanks, Thunderstruck."

"You are welcome!"

Loki took a select mouthful, meaning to be both polite and distasteful of their human food with every bite but as soon as it hit his tongue, he was ravenous for more. Thor kept conversation going until Loki had eaten whatever was in front of him, and was now looking around the place.

"Come, I will show you to a shower." Thor said brightly. "A place to bathe. Jane has a few men's clothes in here."

Loki nodded curtly and lifted himself with regal elegance, being guided into a back room where Thor showed him how to control the temperature of the water. He selected cool water, and chose a fruit scented hair cream, only half listening to what was being said in the other room.

He couldn't hear much, between the shower and the throb in his head. He cursed his new human ears.

He dried and dressed in simple black pants that were too large around the waist and thigh, and his own button shirt. He smoothed his hair away from his face to better inspect it in the mirror; dark rings around his eyes, shot red with tiny bolts of lightning. He was flushed in the face and a closer look revealed that he was already beginning to sweat.

Apparently, old habits died extremely hard.

He went back into the room and stood at the edge of it awkwardly, unsure of what he would do or where he would go. A part of him was nervous for not knowing his next move, but another part was more anxious because he had realized he did not want Thor to leave him.

"Here." the girl presented him with a glass of water and two white stones.

" _What_  is  _that_?" he asked sharply.

It didn't seem to phase her.

"It'll stop the head ache."

When he stared blankly at her, Thor intervened.

"The pain in your skull, brother."

"Are you the cause of that?" he demanded.

"No." she said easily, motioning to the water and the stones. "It's practically in my job description to handle headaches. Miss Astrophysics over there won't give me much but micro expressions, so I know one when I see one."

"It's probably dehydration." Jane offered up quietly. "Have you drank anything since yesterday?"

He shook his head once, and stared into the girl's bright eyes. He looked at the stones and took one, inspecting it closer to his nose, sniffing it cautiously.

"Ohh...kayyy."

"How will this stop anything?" he wanted to know, scowling at her as though she had offered him Mjolnir to whack himself in the head with as a remedy.

She blinked up at him - looked back at Jane, who shrugged - then continued the shrug onto him.

He pushed the stone into her hand and walked around her, watching her eyebrows skate higher and higher onto her forehead. It occurred to him then that, even though he was sweating, she was wearing long sleeves and long pants, with a high collar around her throat. Was she used to this mildly burning atmosphere?

There was a quiet stillness for a while, then Darcy piped up with: "So, what's the plan now?"

"Yes." he said, glaring at Thor. "What is your plan?"

"My plan was to get someplace safe, to a human we could trust." Thor returned the mean look. "You are the one who prides himself on plans, why have you not thought of anything?"

He had been reeling from his punishment and trying to navigate without magic to think about much, actually. Past keeping his emotional turmoil under a tightly kept blanket, he felt nothing other than the petty things Thor was so keen to stir in him.

When they realized that Loki had no answer, Jane reached over and put her hand over the blonde's knee in a comforting way. Thor curled his fingers around hers, and even though Loki could see how frustrated he had been made, he could also see that the small affection made that go away.

Love, imagined, false, or even with a pitiful human, would always trump darkness, no matter how powerful or hurtful it was.

Loki remembered a time when he was loved, and knew that to be true.

He also connected the reason why he did not want Thor to leave, and turned his back on the lot of them.

* * *

Lunch was a quiet affair.

Loki just sat under the cooling and stared at his hands, trying to make them turn blue. The busty girl took it upon herself to leave for a small shopping spree to get out from under the feet of the has-been god , and love-struck-Jane - who had cornered Thor outside to talk more quietly about what exactly could happen. He knew that she was being polite, going to talk about him, so he made it his business to creep to the door, crack it open, and listen to what was being said.

"Well. You know I would look after the both of you but... With S.H.E.I.L.D working more closely with me - even more closely with Erik... He... Hasn't been the same, since Loki, you know. He talks to me and I can see he's trying not to think about it. Darcy was going to transcribe some of his notes and she found whole paragraphs written in the middle of his work about being rewritten like binary - erased, reset, like a computer. She wouldn't let me read it, and she cried for days."

Stupid, apathetic, mortal.

"I understand your concern," he rumbled. "I knew no one else in Midgaurd that would not hurt my brother. I thought that, perhaps Tony Stark, with his tower and many rooms - but I fear it would be too close to a still bleeding wound, to stick my brother at the heart of the city he nearly ruined. And I wanted to see you."

She touched his face, smiling softly. Loki scowled.

"I missed you too. So much. I tried the bridge a hundred and thirteen times while you were gone, and then I saw you on the news." she looked just a little bit hurt. "I was so worried, and I thought that, maybe you'd forgotten about me... I thought that, maybe time passed differently on Asgaurd, you could've been gone longer than I realized."

"They relocated you, away from the battle." he said, pressing a kiss to the back of her hand. "It was all that concerned me. I wanted to see you then, to keep you under my own eyes for however long it took. My family kept me."

He pressed a kiss to the back of her hand.

"I miss you, you must know. More than battle or glory, or feasting or drinking. More than anything. Surely, you must know that. Even now, with you here... I miss you still. I fear that I will never have enough of you, that I will never be able to willingly leave your side, to tend to duties that require me."

Eugh. His brother should keep the poetry to himself, in reality, but the woman did appear to be swooning. Thick headed mortals would fall for the most obscene lies, believe what they wanted to believe, it was disgusting that they engaged in that behavior as an entire race.

"Your mother sure told you how to charm a lady." Jane said, and buried her face in his shoulder, winding her twig thin arms around his shoulders. Thor grawffed, putting his more bulky forearm around her waist in return, kissing the top of her head, her cheeks, nose, mouth.

"Actually, I learned the art of charming ladies from Loki."

What?

"Really?"

"Indeed. I was not the most patient of men. He was the charmer, the silver tongue."

"Actually, that's even transitioned over into our lore of him." she took a pause. "Tell me more about your brother."

"When we were younger - first released into the realm as men, you must understand, we were much older than our comrades and eager to taste the reality of our royalty. We were young, and we were...deprived, of all sorts of company our friends would tell us of. The women, the barkeeps, the drunken misadventures, back them in bare knuckled fights."

And all Loki had wanted was to be a part of that. But no. He was not a 'bare knuckle fighter', even the lady Sif had preferred if he just got out of the way.

"I would watch him, how ladies seemed to skirt around his feet. He'd make them nervous, make them eager, all at the same time, draw them in so slowly with words like the sweetest honey, or have them running to him with a single look. It was _like_ magic, but not. All it took me was a-... You don't need to hear this."

And to both their surprise, she laughed, continued to snuggle into his chest. Loki could think of nothing worse, in this heat.

Thor cleared his throat.

"I had none of those charms, past removing my upper clothing."

"Yeah, that works too, we're visual creatures. Darcy still occasionally laments you leaving, and if she tells you that it's Midgaurdian custom to wonder around without clothes on, it's a lie. Don't believe her."

Loki nearly snickered, Thor out rightly chuckled.

"So, you never asked him about it?"

"About?"

"Charming ladies."

"No. Never. It would have wounded my pride. I do not know what it is I do to be...  _Verbally_ attractive, to a woman. I did not want to have to point out to my brother that he was better at it than I. If he were aware of his talents he would never tell me, and if he wasn't, I wasn't going to draw attention to it. I could see him twisting my words around and catching me in some, untruth that would make me want to stab him in the throat, so I kept my opinions to myself and simply observed instead."

Hm.

"I really hope you never tried to stab him in the throat."

There was a pause.

"Thor!"

"You have no idea how vicious he can be."

"He did just try to take over my world." she reminded him. "But that's different. He's your brother, you can't try and stab him when he annoys you."

"...I may have stabbed him more than once over the course of our lives. But he heals! Mother would dote on him, father would berate me very thoroughly, the ladies would admire the battle scars..."

"You stabbed your brother more than once?!"

"He deserved it." Thor mumbled sheepishly. "And I... Always regretted my temper. It was I who had to admit him to the healers, had to watch them suppress their glares and do as I commanded of them, for the umpteenth time."

She sighed, but stayed under his arm, her little hand stroking the hard panes of his waist.

"I can't believe that you've stabbed him before. My parents would've killed me."

"Do you have siblings, Jane?"

"I have two. Sisters. I did have a brother but... He died."

Thor swept her into a kiss, his hands pressed against her rib cage, as though he was trying to hold her together. He stroked at her cheekbones and drew away softly, but kept his forehead pressed against hers.

"I could think of nothing worse." he rumbled, as the sky darkened. "Than to lose my brother."

And judging by the rapidly darkening sky, he meant every word. Loki was unimpressed, he'd seen this scene before.

"It's okay. It was a long time ago."

"Did someone take him from you? I would find them and kill them."

"No- no, he wasn't- murdered... He was just sick. It was a peaceful death. And, I know that Vikings didn't like the idea of dying on a bed but - it was peaceful, he went in his sleep, we'd all had a chance to say goodbye."

She was right. It was a stupid and boring way to die, to both the listening Asgaurdians, but Thor wisely chose just to press another tender kiss on her mouth and keep that to himself.

"What do you want, Thor?" she asked, looking up at the clouds, stormy and dark and swelling. "In what situation could this possibly end well, with Loki?"

"I did not think that I would find my growth on Midgaurd." he said fairly. "Nor does my brother. The problem is he has much more growing to do, and is so unwilling to do it. But I have faith that my father would not set him an impossible task. I must believe that somewhere, there is salvation waiting for him, and I must believe that he will allow himself to grow."

"What about after that?" she asked him. "What if, in a matter of days, like you, Loki finds what he needs and becomes himself again? Where will he go?"

"That is not a question for me." was all he could offer in return, smiling on her face. "I would think he'd go home but... he is wounded by it."

"He'd get his abilities back though, right?"

Thor nodded.

"So, if he doesn't go home, he'll stay on earth, with his abilities, and... raise Hell?"

"No, Hel is already quite raised." he cocked his head. "How did you know of my niece?"


	3. Chapter 3

"Are you watching TV?"

He hadn't realized the talk-box was on. He didn't understand human entertainment.

"No."

"Good, cuz, I'm going to watch a movie." Darcy continued, going over to the box and selecting a disk. "It's called Jaws. It's about a shark, it's a cult classic. You might like it."

"What is a shark?" he finally raised his eyes from his hands, which he'd been willing blue for next to an hour now.

"It's a creature that lives in the ocean." she informed him. When he didn't know what the ocean was: "An expanse of salty water that covers most of the earth's surface. A shark is almost like a fish - like a snake... You have those on Asgaurd, right? All the mythology I've read says so. I guess it's like a fatter snake, only much bigger and faster, with bigger teeth. Rows of teeth, actually. And it breathes under water."

She showed him the cover, the tip of a shark with an open mouth.

"Are all sharks this big?"

"Some of them are. Most aren't as predatory as this one, though." Darcy added. "I have popcorn." she promptly sat in the middle of his bed, with a big bowl of some solid-cloud like substance before her. She set a drink beside Loki without asking him if he wanted one. He refused to acknowledge it.

"I don't understand how tiny your brains must be to be all consumed by a box." he said spitefully. "It is a stupid pursuit to sit and stare."

She didn't reply past giving him a half scowled look.

Loki didn't want to pay attention. He was in a feral mood, and the idle chatter of the talk-box was doing him no favors. It just so happened that the scenes grew progressively more violent, he enjoyed the ferocity of the shark, and within a few minutes, the box play progressed into something more than he had expected, with blood and fear and mayhem.

The humans in the box were, of course, of sub-par intellect. Clearly all they had to do to evade death was stay out of their ocean; but it seemed to attract them, call to them in the heat of their summer. Despite bodies been torn asunder, they still went into the water.

He wondered if it had properties of a magical nature, and if he should've used it when he had first attempted to take over the puny world.

* * *

Loki woke because he was shivering. The brothers had forgone the blankets again, but without Thor's body taking up vital room, he was freezing. The cool-box was on, and he was laying right under it, and although part of his mind had loved the bitter chill, his human body did not approve.

"Loki?" he was being cooed to. Addressed by a Valkyrie, if he had to guess.

"I'm cold. So cold. Alone." he mumbled, frowning slightly. "Where is my brother?" his hand reached behind him and patted the bed.

"Has he left me? Has he left me, alone?"

"No... He's, like, right here." the voice paused while Loki continued to mutter.

"Wouldn't be the first time I was... left to the cold, by myself...I never did think Thor... of all of them... Thor would not leave me." he stifled a huge yawn behind his arm. "I feel this body grow so exhausted, I hate being so utterly...weak."

"Oh, geeze, lookit his face, I can't even - the feels - I can't... Loki?...Let go of my arm..."

"I don't want you to go." he shivered, contracting his knees to his chest. His eyelids fluttered like they wanted to open, a frown pulled his eyebrows together. The soft touch of the Valkyire eased the frown away. She applied two fingertips to his eyelids to keep them closed.

"Easy. He's alright, not hurting me. Thor, get that." she said quietly.

"I didn't think... it would be so cold... my brother, he has left me, for good, to float in this void, to be so cold, and alone...I knew he did not want me, I knew he could not stand me, how could he not-?"

"Shh, shh."

He felt a rush of air - which must've been her wings flexing - then he was encased in a soft shield. A thick, comfy, feather filled quilt that the Valkyire tucked into his sides, away from his face. He smiled, curling further into it, releasing her hand.

"Thank you." he offered her, because there was nothing else he could offer her. "Thank you, for not leaving me alone."

"That's okay. You're alright."

He felt the fond touch of a careful hand on his brow, and was lulled to sleep.

* * *

Darcy shared a sad look with Thor, who looked utterly heartbroken. She had been the first to wake - her small sounds around the kitchen woke Thor. She offered to show him how to make pancakes so he could do his own for Jane, when Loki had started talking.

"He spoke often in his sleep, when he was a child." Thor remembered, sighing heavily. "I missed it the further we were set apart in our later years. I thank you, for soothing him so easily."

"It's no problem, for me. I'm used to it."

"Why?"

"Jane's been having these crazy nightmares." she said with a shrug. "I don't get any sleep if I don't calm her tits. I mean- don't look at me like that, it's a common phrase. 'Calm your tits'."

He was gaping at her slightly.

"Stop thinking about me calming her tits, would you?"

"Stop saying that, and perhaps I will!"

"What? Tits?"

He put his hands over his ears.

"Oh, seriously?  _Seriously_? What are you, five? Tits, Thor, tits, tits, _tits_."

"I don't want to think about that anymore."

Darcy scrutinized the way his shoulders had gone tense.

"So you two haven't done the horizontal tango then. Huh." And maybe just to change the subject and get him to stop gaping at her like he was, she continued. "She's different, when you're gone. More... sharp. Serious. She hates the thought of spending time on anything other than figuring out the puzzle to get to you. It's sweet, but it's obsessive to the point of destructive. I'm concerned that she's getting co-dependent on me, considering I have to feed her."

She flipped a pastry from pan to plate and handed him the cooking utensil.

"Your turn."

Thor took it up in his significantly larger hand, almost eclipsing the handle.

"I can do this." he concentrated on pouring the mix in. She had to halt him from pouring too much, and helped him clean the lip free of mixture. "You say she is different... Has nightmares. What of?"

"Oh no. I can't tell you. That's so not my story to tell. She just - no, wait, you have to wait for it to cook, or you'll get batter everywhere - she just, talks, a lot, gets really anxious, gets up and wonders around. It's not a problem, she just puts the remote in the fridge and sits on the roof if I don't get her. Now flip it."

They made two large pancakes - with Darcy watching him, he didn't burn them. He scrutinized the pastry, trying to gauge it how she did, but he wasn't entirely sure how she knew they were ready.

"Did my lady... Truly miss me, when I left?"

"Yeah, of course. And then she was a bit messy when the New York thing happened, because you were here but you weren't with her-"

"I would not have wanted to show her any attention when my brother was so inclined to hurt me."

"Yeah, she knows that. But after that drama was said and done, she waited for you." she motioned for him to flip the pancake. "We both did."

Thor didn't want to have the feelings he was having. Regretting his home, returning to his family He felt that he should have made a bigger effort, he should have explained the politics to Jane as he next saw her.

"Thank you, for helping me." he said, lifting the food onto the plate.

"It's what I do." she replied happily. "Oh, hang on. You're missing-" she swooped to a lower cupboard and pulled out a floral glass. In it, she poured orange juice, then shuffled quickly outside and came back again with a small yellow flower, placing it on the side of the plate.

"Go on then, Casanova." she realized the meaning would be lost on him, but dropped it anyway with a big smile.

He thanked her again and went out, carefully steering over potholes like they would be the end of his life as he knew it. He knocked on Jane's door and waited politely, she scrambled around inside like a nervous chicken, shoving things in draws, kicking clothes under her bed.

"Hi." she said breathlessly, as her door swung open. She was sleep mussed, half lidded, in a loose, shoulder baring shirt and shorts.

"Good morning." he lifted the plate, flower and glass. "I made you breakfast."

She just about jumped him for the sentiment, but didn't mention that to him.

"We should speak..." he started, but halted at the expression on her face. "What is a Casanova, exactly?"

* * *

Again, Loki woke to the scent of things cooking. He heard the quiet shuffling of footsteps and the sizzle of a pan in distress. He opened his eyes to see that he was covered in a thick blanket, cuddled into it like a child. He sat up, pushing it away, to turn around and see the young assistant fussing in the kitchen again, plates with those pan made cakes and bowls with what appeared to be fruit.

It so happened that she turned and saw him watching.

"Oh. Good morning." she casually went about cooking some more.

He didn't say anything, he just aimed a kick at the comforter around his feet. He didn't know how long it had been there or who had put it on him, but he didn't like it. It made him feel like he was being mothered, something he couldn't count on any more.

"Here." she presented him with a plate of food and an orange drink.

He looked up at her, sitting in a more comfortable position. She just sighed, and put the food down beside the bed.

"Don't expect me to cater to you if you're gonna be a little shit about it."

"What exactly is it you expect of me?" he bit back.

"Well, even Thor was more appreciative when he first came down, and he was smashing things and bellowing for more. You could at least say thanks." she cocked a brow at him, then lifted her nose to the kitchen and whisked back there.

Loki inspected the meal from afar, not wanting to encourage her too quickly. A quick assessment of her behavior lead him to believe that she had forgotten the incident, but that could be woman's trickery. He missed his powers.

At least her food was good.

It wasn't long before Thor and Jane came back from her camper, smiling at each other, sweet as honey. Thor opened the door for her and he took her plate for her and was generally being strangely gentle and quiet, his eyes twinkling. He didn't stop smiling long enough to keep his food in his mouth, which was  _charming_.

Darcy had just finished making her own plates when Jane addressed her.

"How'd you sleep?"

"A-OK, bosslady."

 _Liar_. He thought. He could see it as clear as day, the lie on her face. He watched his brother to see if he'd picked up on it too, but he had not, he was too busy focusing on the lady Jane and her hand in his own.

"So Jane. The thingy-me-whatsit showed multiple pulses south, south west of here." the assistant said mildly, but Jane popped to her feet, Thor's hand clutched tightly in hers.

"What do you mean, pulses? Our kind of pulses?"

"Not really."

"Explain!"

Darcy sighed shortly, fixed her glasses on her nose.

"Varied in size, duration, energy and sound."

"How-?" Jane promptly jogged to some pages, tucking her hair behind her ears. "How, were they different? When did they start? Why did no one tell me?!"

Darcy met the hard look and scoffed briefly, before sighing and saying: "I didn't tell you because we have company, clearly."

"When, Darcy?"

"Last night around five past eleven." deterring Jane from her murderous rampage, she tipped one last round of bacon before Thor's stuffed face, taking a seat with her foot propped on Jane's now-empty chair. "You were busy star-gazing with lover-boy, over here."

Thor tried to look innocent with cheeks full of bacon.

_"Darcy."_

"Okay, there was nothing I could do about it, S.H.I.E.L.D got involved, okay?" she made a sweeping hand gesture. "I assumed there were no bugs in here because obviously, the Grinch would've been picked up by now."

"I am not a Grinch."

"You don't even know what a Grinch is."

"Darcy!"

"You say it like an insult."

"Well  _duh_."

"Tread carefully around me, mortal, I still retain the ability to hurt you."

"Not with my eyes on you, brother."

Darcy, for her part, looked mostly unaffected, and before Jane could further berate her: "They lasted for half a minute, most. The sound was weird too, not usual pulses, so much. I would say listen to the recording, but S.H.E.I.L.D took it about ten seconds after we got it."

"What?" she straightened, her eyes narrowed. Loki could see a fierceness brewing.

"They told me if I hadn't told you, I shouldn't bother." Darcy said with another shrug. "I had already wrote it down, old school pen and paper, and they didn't ask about that. Any ways, it was weird. And they jumped me harder than polite, like they'd been waiting for it. It sounded like knocking." Darcy said with confidence.

"Impatient knocking, like you knew someone was home but no one was answering, like your ex is peeking through the window and he still has a bunch of photos that you need him to delete."

"Did you get coordinates?" Jane was nearly choking on her depression.

"Even if we did, S.H.E.I.L.D'll be all over that like a fat kid on chocolate cake." Darcy stuffed a small mouthful of eggs into her face, followed by a long draw of coffee.

All eyes on Jane, and the way she let her hair slide forward and hide her face. Darcy shifted, chewing on her breakfast, her left eye twitching slightly. Loki scowled between the two humans, annoyed when he realized that the woman after his broth- Thor's - heart couldn't see what he saw. He huffed, and said flatly: "She has the coordinates."

He met the heated stare sent by the lady, then spoke again.

"Yes, she knows exactly where it was these... knocks sounded. And I may know who calls." he lifted himself and casually took his plate to the bench, so his brother could finish what he could not. "There are not many races that knock."

"You could identify them?" Jane turned the full extent of her hopeful eyes onto his face.

Loki could see, now, the appeal for his brother. It didn't work on him, though he understood it - she was quite a hopeful creature; to give her something she chased after so long would be intensely gratifying, to someone like Thor.

He shrugged one shoulder.

"I might."

Jane whirled on the girl.

"Where is it?"

"What about our favorite company, who has already camped out there?"

"Screw them,  _I_  found this!" she thought about that. " _My_  machines found this.  _We_  work damn hard for this. They can't take this away from us!"

"Hate to burst that bubble, babe, but, they can. And now we have two friends who shouldn't be anywhere near them, and you want the worst offender to waltz into their arms and tell you what you need to know?"

"Yes!" She shook her head. "No! He just needs to - I mean, I won't get him in trouble-!" she deflated, hanging her head. Jane was still trying to guiltily talk herself into it. "Look it wouldn't... be a big deal...He wouldn't have to get extremely close, we have all the equipment and everything... maybe he could..."

"Jane." Thor tipped his head at her, a knowing look on his face.

The elder woman rubbed the bridge of her nose.

"Why do you do that?"

"It's how I am." he gave the top of her head a sad smile.

"I thought you should know, was all." the girl sunk into her chair. "Just thought I would mention it."

Thor watched the light on Jane's face fade away. His heart was pulling painfully. He looked from his brother to her, to his brother again, lingering when he caught the trickster's eye.

"You know I would not let harm befoul you." Thor said in a rumbling way. "I would go to protect you both."

"Thor, I can't ask you to do that." Jane said quietly, patiently.

"Yes, you can." Thor did his heroic inflation thing and looked back to Jane. "If it will make you happy, I will make it happen."

She stuttered for a moment, looking at their faces. She settled on Loki.

"Would you... take that chance?" she asked him, only him.

He jolted - he had thought his decision was already made. Darcy's eyes briefly narrowed as though she caught something, but her expression smoothed and he watched her for any other sudden signs. She gave him none.

"I may be _human_ , but I did not lose my mischief." he fixed his collar, self importantly lifting his gaze away from the girl. "I will do it, if only do repay you for your hospitality."

"Thank you." Jane said, and bounded to her feet. "Alright, Darcy, can you reset the microphones? We're probably going to need some snacks- and make the truck work?"

The girl nodded and left to do her bidding. The remaining female human beamed at Thor, and turned a grateful smile onto Loki.

"Thank you. This- it means so much to me."

He just nodded, unsure of how exactly he should express his idea without upsetting her, thus upsetting his brother and reigniting his headache. He had full intentions on answering her questions, however, he also had the idea that he would get some small revenge on the company while he was there.


	4. Chapter 4

It took inefficient hours to get to where they needed to be, so that it was nearing nightfall when the ugly, loud machine hummed to a stop. Loki was regrettably in the backseat, on the right, with Darcy's shortly dressed thigh sticking to his leather, the door wedged open with some large machine or rather on her other side.

He was suffering in his thin clothes. The heat still ailed him greatly, in the space where Thor seemed to enjoy it, his arms exposed in a mutilated shirt, no doubt to tempt his lady's eye - which it did, never a good thing when it was she who steered the vehicle.

They had a brief, stupid plan. Thor had offered to circle the perimeter from above, but Darcy reminded him that they were looking for aliens, and probably had eyes on the sky. Even if they didn't, Jane set up the equipment, talking in a rapid fire technological language the rest of their party struggled to understand.

They'd just set up and started recording when trouble brewed.

"This is a restricted area." the voice buzzed through the speakers of their truck. "You have two minutes to exit the premises before you are detained for questioning."

Two big spot lights then trained on them.

" _S.H.E.I.L.D_." Darcy snapped, slamming her hand down on the dash. She glared out the window.

Loki raised his eyebrows on the otherwise placid girl.

"Darcy?" Jane's voice said from the back.

"Call it off, bosslady, S.H.E.I.L.D is on to us."

"What-?"

The message through the radio remained the same, apparently on a loop. The look on her face was thunderous - Thor blinked at her expression and the low curse that came out of her mouth.

"How do they  _do_  that?" she muttered, and swung around to continue reading what the computer was telling her. "If I can just buy another minute... I'm so close, I can feel it, I just need a little bit more information."

The information she would find here would not help her with opening a bi-frost, but Loki chose to keep those cards to his chest. He sat in the back of the vehicle, sprawled, as the girl was beside him.

"Right." she said, without looking at him, fiddling with something on her lap. "We've got two minutes."

"And what, prey, do you plan to do with those minutes?"

She flipped her hair at him, eyes lit like flames behind the glasses that framed her face.

"Anything I can." she responded with a somewhat vicious grin. "You can't tell me you came all this way just to listen to who's knocking at a door."

He pulled a somewhat amused face.

"You aren't in the habit of missing much, little girl."

"Nor you, little boy." she made it her business to scoop up a series of small gadgets from her shoulder bag and check her watch. "Are you coming?"

"Coming?" he scrutinized the lights that plainly inferred that they were being watched. "You must sport a death wish."

"Psh." she looked over her shoulder to check that Thor and Jane were occupied. "It's actually kind of the opposite. Jane goes stir crazy if she doesn't get her own, if I don't do something she's gonna get drastic. So, are you coming?"

"I am not."

"Fine. Be a coward. Whatever." She took a deep breath, before pushing the door open and dropping low to the ground, rolling out from under the bright light and into a small trench.

Loki waited for the tell-tale wail of sirens or maybe even the voice in the car to start speaking. But alas, she went undetected, moving swiftly over the sand.

"Lady Darcy?" Thor stuck his head through the window. "We need your expert-... oh." he raised eyebrows at Loki. "I didn't think you'd stay."

He watched the lights, saw the girl moving quickly over the landscape, and then huffed shortly.

"I don't want to be caught by that scum." he said blandly.

"Neither does she. Though you have more to lose, so I understand your hesitation."

"If I didn't know any better... I'd say you were goading me."

Thor raised his eyebrows and given him a pointed look.

"I am not subtle like you. They intend to frustrate my lady Jane. I don't want that."

"No, of course you don't."

"I know you don't want to sit in this car for nothing." Thor rumbled with a small grin. "Would you not like to raise just the least bit of chaos?"

Well, he was right, for once. No one knew him like Thor did.

Loki sighed shortly, opened his door, and promptly rolled over the ground and began to make long tracks after the girl. When he caught up to her, she was peering through the thick plastic walls of the place to see if she could see anything other than scientists.

"Alrighty." she left something small and metal in an inconspicuous place and went on to glance at him. "I've messed with the signal connected to Jane's car, so she should get something of use they don't know she has. Any further ideas?"

"I would've liked to set snakes on them." he confessed with a half shrug. "But as I no longer posses that ability..."

"Snakes are good." she nodded, looking at her watch. "I'm keen for the snakes. We just don't have the time, this round. Since you're here, I've got my lady balls back, and I'm not done yet." She marched off with certain purpose.

"Where are you going?"

"I don't know. Scoping the perimeter, or something. Keep an eye on my back."

"Why would I do that?"

"Shh!" she whipped around, her shoulders tense. "Keep it down!" she whisper shouted at him.

He glared.

"Do not presume you can tell me what to do." he maintained a regular voice.

"Loki." she growled, then looked up at him, suspicious. "What exactly _can_ you do?"

He bristled.

"I'm going back to the vehicle." he announced, somewhat loudly.

She glared.

"Did you hear that? Dave, swear, I heard something."

She poked her nose around the corner. Two guards on patrol marched towards them - she grabbed him by the collar to yank him to the side, beginning to drag him along the line of the tent until they reached a water tank. She tried to shove him behind it but he knocked her hands away - she just hid herself.

The guards turned the corner just as he ducked behind it, treading on her toe.

"Did you see that?"

"See what, Craig?"

"I thought I saw a shadow."

"You always see shadows, man."

She was biting her lip, and looked up, before (whilst struggling mildly) lifted onto the top of the tank. She reached down and gave Loki a hand, which he refused. With a small and angry grunt, she caught the back of his collar and yanked him half off the ground, making him climb just as the men turned the corner.

"Shit man, I think I saw it." the torchlight flashed up past their hiding place. "Hey, what the hell is that? A fuckin' spider?"

"What, man?"

"Up there!"

They both flattened themselves to the lid. With wide eyes, she carefully pulled his hair away from the edge, making the men below cry out.

"That better not be a fuckin' spider, man. I swear, if they're that big out here, I'm outta this shit, man."

"That's the least of our problems, you idiot!" hissed the other one. "You know these guys are into  _aliens_."

There was a long, horrified pause.

"What if it's a facehugger?"

Darcy clapped a hand over her mouth to stop herself from laughing, her eyes teared up and she curled into herself, shaking with giggles.

"No fuckin' way, dude. That shit ain't real..."

It appeared to the former Asgaurdian that these 'facehuggers' were something to be feared. He had not come all the way in a hot truck with sticky Darcy beside him for hours on end just to turn around and go back again without the slightest bit of mischief on his behalf. And to prove to this human that he did not need his magic to be useful...

He spoke.

"Oh." Loki said in a very dark voice. "I _am_ real. I will  _hug your face_!"

They promptly screamed and fired their weapons, generally away from where they were. They hit their radios and ran for the tent opening. Now in hysterics, Darcy's hands clumsily pushed herself up so she could mostly fall off the tank.

"Run!" she whisper screamed at him, holding her stomach from laughter.

Loki jumped and jarred his knees, hitting the ground - " _Stupid human body!"_ \- but she was there, putting her arms under his pits and lifting him into standing. He allowed her to direct him, half drag him, around the spray of white light and onto the back of the truck.

They collapsed onto it, she burst into peals of laughter and he had to press his hand over his mouth to hide a smile. It had been a long time since something so simple had been much fun. Since he was a child, and he wasn't so good with his powers.

"Oh, god... Oh, my god!"

"Please," he mused. "Just Loki will suffice."

The truck rumbled; Jane was loudly cursing the day that S.H.E.I.L.D intervened with her work, with her research, and the oh-so important things that may help her figure out the cosmos, and Thor was agreeing heartily, his hand on her knee.

Darcy held the machines down as the astrophysicist took off in a cloud of red dust, Loki flattening himself down to the floor of the tray to avoid being seen. It took him several minutes to be game enough to lift his head in the whipping wind, then crawl into the backseat to flop on the sticky leather. The wind and dust had been dry, at least, but he found the seat insufferably uncomfortable, and was soon back out on the truck's tray.

He didn't want to be concerned with what the girl was doing, but in all honesty, she was intently watching something on a screen, her glasses reflecting some kind of chaotic mayhem. He lifted his nose to the wind, now settling because the woman was no longer speeding along at high speeds, and tried to ignore her.

He liked the stars, the deep blue sky. He liked the cool breeze and the red earth. He was calm. He was content. But what was she watching that made her giggle like that?

She presented him with a small bud without comment, the wire of which lead down to the screen balanced in her lap. She showed him how it was in the crevice of her ear, and offered it again.

"It seems unhygienic." he said dryly, sneering at the thing.

"If you don't want to listen, stop staring at me, it's creepy." she said with a small shrug, and replaced the bud in her ear.

He could see the screen, and hear the muffled forms of words, panic and strife. Without another word, she offered him the bud again. He held it over his ear, but could still hear quite clearly. There was screaming and running around, and Darcy was snickering as men with nets ran past the camera.

"What did you do?"

"Shh." she said, with a small finger over her mouth. "You'll get me in trouble."

"What is this?" he said again, more quietly, and stared at the screen. They both looked up through the window to Thor's hacking snore, and Jane's eyes fixed on the road, a far away gleam in her eyes.

"So... I may or may not have bugged them. I put in a camera and a mic so we could hear and see what they were doing. For Jane." Loki thought:  _Liar._

"But you..." she laughed again. "That facehugger, thing? They think there's an arachnid-esque alien running around, with a human voice box, no one knows what to do." And then, she cackled.

She tried to smother it but it wouldn't go away, her shoulders were shaking and her glasses were askew.

He listened again - there was an undignified squeal, and a horde of panicked humans running to the side of the screen. Something large tipped over and someone ran past with a net on his head.

"Good job." she said, and he stared at the screen, unsure of weather she was talking to it or to him.

It didn't make sense, for her to tell him that. They weren't friends. His mischief was not for her benefit. How absurd.

He scoffed, threw the wire back at her from his ear, and pressed his over-heated skull against the cool of the window.

* * *

"Guys." Jane's soft voice pulled on the strings of his mind. "Loki. Wake up, we're home."

_I don't have a home._

He opened his eyes and looked over to Jane, who was standing at his window. Thor was grumpily rubbing his face behind her, and smothered a huge yawn behind his hand. Darcy was standing to his side, hands on her arms - he felt a coldness spread over his own arm and realized that he was minus the sleepy human. Oh joy.

"Is it almost sunrise?" he blinked blearily out at the purple sky.

"Nearly." Jane offered, and put her arm around the girl's shoulders. "We're off to catalog some knowledge."

"Whoopee." Darcy said, leaning on the smaller woman. "But you're making coffee."

"Sure I will. You two get some more sleep. Thank you for coming with us."

Loki made a non-committal noise, rubbed some feeling into his legs, and allowed himself to wake up more fully, glancing around at the near-empty city. Thor was quiet, which meant he was mostly asleep, still. He waited patiently, however, for Loki to get down from the truck and into the lab.

"Brother?"

"Mn?"

They took a side of the bed each, facing away from the other. Loki toed off his shoes and Thor pulled his shirt over his head.

"I am glad to have you."

"Mn."

Loki unbuttoned his shirt, folded it, put it neatly on the floor beside him, and tucked under the blanket, wiggling until he found his groove. Thor disposed of his clothes in a heap, peeled his socks off and tossed them haphazardly to the side before flopping back, stretching lazily.

"Even if I spend my time with Jane."

"Mm-hm."

"I  _am_  glad to have you with me. Don't make those noises like you think I don't mean what I say."

"Of course."

"I swear it on father's only eye. I'd rather be here with no one else."

"Go to sleep."

"I just wanted to tell you."

_Such a simple creature, really._

"You're not fully awake, nor in your right mind. Go to sleep."

There was a mild pause.

"You always think I own to some terrible motive."

"Not always."

"Then why don't you believe that I enjoy having my brother with me?"

"I'm not your brother." he rolled over, popped up onto his elbow. "Your father stole me from me own family, used me to avoid war. I was a babe and I should've been left to die."

Thor sat up, growling in the darkness.

"No."

"Yes."

"No!"

" _Yes_."

"I don't want to think of you dead!"

"Well that's what I should be, shouldn't I? Because if he had've just been a proper king and obeyed the rules of the war, you would not have me as a brother, you wouldn't know the hurt of losing me, and I would not have to settle for such a painful life! Can you not tell me me logic is infallible? Don't you think if your father hadv'e just left me alone, we would all be better for it?"

"You were a prince of Asgaurd! How can you call your life painful when you lived better than most people will ever know? Do you not remember the utmost care our mother gave to you?"

" _Your_ mother."

"She is still your mother, Loki, she never treated you otherwise!"

"Under order of the king!"

" _He never gave such an order_!" Thor swung around, inflating, caught his brother by the shoulders. "If I didn't have you, Loki, I would've been a different man! I would never have been sent from Asgaurd to meet Jane!"

"And that's all I'm good for, I see!"

Thor shook him hard enough to make his human teeth chatter.

"When will you open your eyes and see that even if you are not of my blood, _you are my brother_?! That I would do anything you asked of me? That I love you, that I call you one of mine, that I would rather die than see you waste away on this realm as you claim you will-?"

"You would do anything for me, Thor?"

_"Yes!"_

"Let. Me. Go."

There was a long pause.

"You're  _hurting_  me."

And the bands of steel around his arms fell open. He rubbed each bicep in turn, scowling at the general outline of his brother's shadow. He could see that he had deflated, and was now sheepishly watching him tend his - bruised - arms.

"I'm sorry, Loki."

"So am I. But for what, I daresay, may be two very different things." he shifted away from the Asgaurdian, lay down again, a hand over each of his bruises. He rolled away, stretching out, and stared resolutely out of the window, feeling the stare of the thunderer on his back.

"I only meant to offer you a kindness. You did not have to twist my sentiment."

"I don't want sentiment."

"What do you want, Loki?"

What did he want? Power. When he tried to achieve it, he was denied. So he had nothing.

"Go to sleep." he mumbled.

"I think you don't know any more." Thor accused, and hunkered down beside him. "I think that this lesson is being learned far quicker than you realize."

He was just short of sticking his fingers in his ears to drown out the rumble of his brother's voice, but Thor remained quiet, staring at the roof. In a few short minutes, the sun began to rise, and when Loki turned to try and make himself more comfortable, Thor was still there, still staring.

He huffed, hid his face in the pillow, tried desperately to pretend he had not seen those two blue eyes watching him the way they were.

"Stop staring at me."

"I'm not."

"Liar."

"You would know, Cow."

"Close your beak and go to sleep."

The thundering chuckle worked more like a lullaby than anything Loki had ever known.


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> MASS POST GO

She came in, placed food at his side, and said 'Good morning,' all without a sneer or glare. But the woman had frightened him, woken him from a blissful slumber. He knew she was being some kind of tricky malicious, but what she didn't know was how much better he was at this game.

He tipped his plate and let it smash, the food stirring on the floor, and tucked back into himself. Thor woke with his hand already summoning Mjolnir.

"What is it?" he forced sleep from his eyes. "What is the matter?"

"Oh, nothing. Your bro here is just throwing a highly attractive tantrum." she was seething, he could hear it. "I would suggest going back to sleep, but I have the strangest feeling it's about to get very loud in here."

"Oh." Thor squinted at Loki, who was staring at his hands, in front of his face. "What has happened, brother?"

"That  _pathetic fool_ -"

"I can hear you, you smug bastard."

"I am no bastard!" he sat up, the first to raise his voice.

"For all you know, you could be." she said, her voice laced with deadly venom.

He stiffened, rolled onto his feet, cutting the edge of his foot on the broken plate. He kicked it in his frustration, making it sail across the floor, and glared her way. His blood was already spilling, trailing down the arch of his foot and dropping onto the floor.

"Look at what you've done!"

"I didn't make you drop your shit and step in it, you did that all by yourself,  _Smurf."_

"You take that back,  _vermin_!"

"Or you'll what?" she snapped. "Go on, magic up some snakes, you slimy piece of-!"

"That is enough!" Thor bellowed, cutting the both of them short. "Stop it!"

"He started it!" she had to turn and remove the flame from the stove, something burning began to smoke. "He is the one who thinks he's so holier-than-thou!"

" _I am_." he sneered, and took his foot away from the glass to take menacing steps forward. "If you do not hold your tongue I'll pull it from your skull!"

"I dare you to!" she came out from around the bench, lifting her head. "Go on! You just try, and I'll bite your god damn fingers off!"

He growled and advanced as she did, but Thor stepped in the the middle of the, hand hand raised in either direction.

"I said  _ENOUGH_." his bellow made Darcy cringe out of her angry glare to stare at him. The two humans could feel the air humming with electricity, stinging pleasantly over their skin. "You should hold your temper." he shot at Loki.

"And you do not know my brother, you have no right to speak to him in such a manner." he lowered his hands.

They both glared past his chest.

Jane swung open the door, her feet bare, her hair sleep mussed.

"Thor?" she said cautiously. "You... I heard your temper flare on the machines. What's going on in here?"

"This wench thinks she has half a mind to-"

"He just threw the plate down on the floor like he was snapping the olive branch-"

"If she speaks to me in such a manner again I will forcibly pull her jaw from her skull and-"

"If he doesn't quit with this grade A asshole act I swear to god I'll kick him so hard his nuts will invert-"

"Stop speaking that way!"

"Or what?!"

"Do not challenge me so, you do no know who you challenge!"

"Neither do you!"

"I will pin you both under Mjolnir until you act kindly, if the both of you do not immediately calm you tits!"

For a second, Darcy just blinked at him, her mouth open and half way to retorting. Loki did much the same, but he felt a powerful blush lay over his cheekbones at the images the term had evoked. Jane, apparently the first to recover, cleared her throat.

"Clearly, Darcy has been teaching you Midgaurdian slang... Now. What's going on in here?"

"He started it."

"I did not!"

The girl grit her teeth and looked stubbornly at the floor.

"Say sorry, Darcy."

"Sorry Darcy." the girl parroted in a defeated mutter.

Loki opened his mouth to goad her on with a victorious sneer when Thor's hand clapped down over his words. Jane turned and gave him a brief smile for the backup.

"I did not start it." he said sharply. "I didn't start anything."

"You are not so easily vexed." Thor said in his rumbly way. "You should also apologize."

"I will not-"

But the look on Thor's face made his arms hurt, in exactly the same place they had when he'd grabbed him the night prior. If he wanted, Thor could force him to his knees in that broken plate and make him beg for forgiveness. So with a loud hiss of air between his teeth, he grunted out the most sincere apology he could muster.

"I apologize."

"Whatever."

"You see! She did not so properly extend her apologies, and I am royalty-!"

"Hang on a second, you can't have it both ways, you can't not be an Asgaurdian and claim to be it's prince when it suits you."

"Yes, I can."

"You're seriously the most ridick man I've ever met."

"Darcy." Jane interrupted, and jogged over to her, muttering something too low for Loki's human ear's to pick up on. The girl looked momentarily enraged, then softened completely, and sighed.

"Alright, alright. I'm sorry for calling you names."

"And...?"

"Don't push your luck, I'm not apologizing for calling you out on being a stubborn -"

Jane lead her away, by the arm. She opened the door and stood just out of it, waiting as Darcy explained - with all the flailing details - what had happened, from her side of the story.

Thor who settled on the bed-couch, rubbing sleepy eyes.

"I don't understand why she would vex you so easily, brother. I haven't seen you so quick to strike before."

Loki stared at him. His foot was stinging.

"You don't know what vexes me anymore."

He too, returned to the bed, and sat on it, minding the spill of food that had landed near his shirt. The cut was bleeding profusely, hurting madly, and he studied it with a scowl.

"Talk to me." Thor said. "Say something."

"Something." Loki retorted, and eased back on the bed. "How long does it take a human body to heal?"

"A long time." Thor peered over to see the dripping blood from his foot. "That will not stop bleeding unless we do something about it." He got up and jogged out, letting a hot burst of air tussle his hair into his face. He ran a clawed hand through it and waited patiently, then glared when both women returned to the room.

"You." he sneered. "I will not have you in my presence, begone!"

"Well that'll be hard when I'm the one with the first aid certificate." she approached him with the determined stride of a woman scorned. He began to drag himself back on the bed, but she caught his ankle and yanked him forward.

"This wouldn't have happened if you weren't such an asshole." she accused.

"Keep calling me names and see what happens to your mouth!"

"Oh shut up about my mouth already!" she snapped up at him, wrestling with his leg, and caught his other foot as he made to swing it at her head. "If you kick me, I'll stab you, swear to god."

"Well." Jane said mildly. "That escalated quickly."

"It seems to be the story of his life." Thor mumbled, for her ears only. She just chuckled and went to make some toast.

Darcy didn't bother to warn him about the sting of antiseptic - that was Jane's job as the liquid bit into his nerves and made him call her a 'poisonous leech!' She cleaned the wound, pulled a tiny shard of glass from it, then gauze it and wrapped a bandage around it firmly.

"Now clean this up." she motioned to the floor, when his eggs had gone cold.

He looked at her as though she'd grown three heads, utterly scandalized.

"You're not a prince any more,  _dear_. You make a mess, you damn well be sure you'll clean it up."

He could not dispute it. But he still tried.

"I am injured."

"Who's fault is that?"

He glared.

"Yours."

"Uh-uh. You clean it up or you can feed yourself. Off the floor. I'm not making you food to throw it around. Maybe that's how you roll on Asgaurd, but on Midaguard, that'll just get you a smack in the mouth. Comprende, Amigo?"

He just stared.

"What is 'Comprendeamigo'?"

"Oh. It uh, it's another language."

"You speak more than one language?" he narrowed his eyes on her. "It seems stupid, to have different language, on such a small world."

"There's more than two, my all-knowing lord." she cocked a brow. "I alone speak fluent internet, Facebook pirate dialect _, and_ mad sarcasm. But that's not the point. Clean up your mess or that's all the food you're getting from me."

"I refuse to eat off the floor."

"Well who's fault is _that_?"

She raised both brows at him. He scowled, looked at his brother, who was watching him for any signs of oncoming viciousness.

"I will do it in my own time." he muttered.

"Fine."

_"Fine."_

She glared, then left the room, babbling some scientific nonsense at Jane as she left, leading the woman to agree. She looked up at Thor then looked at Loki who was sadly contemplating picking up after himself.

Thor shook his head when she made to go and help him. His brother needed the lesson in humility, frankly. He didn't want them to fight any more than they already were.

* * *

"Are you okay?" Jane had sat down on Darcy's bed, looking over her glasses at the brown eyed astrophysicist, who was busying her hands with hands with her laptop.

"I am a-okay." she replied lightly. "Finally got some reception, and I'd be damned if I didn't reblog some of these awesome pics of Iron Man mid-action sequence. Oh my god, do you think he owns a portable wind machine to make his hair that way?"

Jane wasn't convinced of her status.

"You know, we've been friends for a while, now. I'm not totally involved in my work that I haven't learned a thing or two about you."

"Puh-lease, it takes a little more than a god with a chip on his shoulder to get to me."

"Not what I'm talking about."

Darcy raised her eyes from the pictures on her screen, the gifs of Iron Man dancing gangahm style. Jane closed it on her hands to keep her attention.

"I'm okay."

"You haven't said much about it, is all. I'm concerned."

"I'm not. There's no need to be. It's not a big deal. No point dwelling."

"Just because you don't think about it, doesn't mean it won't hurt you. Even if you are at peace with it mentally, your heart might still hurt a little bit. And that's okay. It's normal."

"I'm fine."

"You keep saying that when I'm not asking. You're not okay." she put a hand on her calf, gave her a sad smile. "Did I ever tell you you're my best friend?"

"Not really. I kinda got that vibe when you ditched that gang of super nerds from college to party with me."

"You're more fun. And besides, they don't know me. You're the one who wakes me up when I have nightmares. You're the one who feeds me. You're the one who listens to me when I go on a science bender, who notes down the things that are important before I forget. I know it's hard, but I am here, if you want to talk about it."

"I don't."

"I know, not right now, but you haven't been sleeping and now with Loki and Thor here..." she trailed off, searched beyond the lenses to try and gauge where the young girl was at. "When I told Thor I lost my brother he nearly crushed me with his love."

"I would've gone with a Mew-Mew reference, personally."

"Not that way, you jerk."

"Oh, I'm the jerk, for bringing up the hot alien boyfriend?"

"I think you should talk to him."

"To Thor? Are you nuts? That's  _your_  man-friend, I am not going to spill my guts to him. No. No, thank you."

"I think he'd make you feel better. He made me feel better. And you know I was fine with it to begin with. He's got a big heart."

"He's got a big chest. And abs. Yeah, maybe I will tell him, and get as much semi-naked cuddling as I can wrangle."

"I've already warned him off removing his clothes."

"If I cry, maybe I can use them to sop up my tears."

"And snot. Let's not forget neither of us cry prettily. I don't want to remind you of the Notebook saga, but I will."

"Eugh. Ugh. Yeah, you're right. Those feels went  _everywhere_." Darcy scrunched up her nose, which made her glasses almost fall off her face. Jane removed them, wiping them clean of smudged Darcy-prints, and handed them back with a smile.

"Try and sleep through the night, okay?"

"Yeah, I will." she replaced her glasses just to peer over the top of them. "That goes for you too. No funny business with said hot alien boyfriend. Noises carry around here."


	6. Chapter 6

That night, Thor and Jane were head-to-head, talking. Loki was staring absently at the Television, watching a 'movie' where the man's daughter had been taken, and as a result of her being taken, he went on a murderous rampage, or had taken some form of absence from his assassinating profession.

He didn't know the name of the saga.

He felt a weight on the bed and swiveled to see Darcy sitting, her jaw set.

"I'm sorry." she said flatly. "About all the fighting."

"You should be."

"So should you." she took a deep breath in, and made herself relax. "I'm trying to keep my cool, dude. You aren't making this any easier."

He watched her face, and waited until she looked across at him.

"You are not used to being challenged, so." he noted. "I am not, either."

"I get mean. Meaner than I should. I have these bad nights and they usually make for bad days, and you happened to catch one." she looked at her fingers, half hidden behind the sleeves of her shirt. "I know I do, but I can't help it."

He didn't reply to that, he just looked back at the tv.

"How is your foot?"

"Better." he replied, in a somewhat mumble. He looked at the neat bandaging and said: "Thank you."

"You're welcome."

There was a silence, apart from the explosions issuing from the television. Even Thor and Jane had fallen quiet, their eyes absent but their ears tuning in. Darcy made herself busy eating ice cream from the container, nervously running commentary on the screen.

They sat and watched the movie until the end, when she got up and gave the room a general 'goodnight'- they all replied. Loki just nodded, staring at the names responsible for the film.

* * *

After Darcy and Jane had left them, Thor took to the bed and lay down, beaming at the roof, taking up most of the space again.

"Jane is lovely," Thor told him, without prompt. "But sometimes I fear that she finds me slow."

Loki smirked in the darkness.

"Just be your usual charming self." he drawled. "And she won't be so concerned with what's in your head. Or the utter drivel that comes out of your mouth whenever she's around."

He could feel Thor's laughter trembling through the bed.

"I try. She makes me fall over my words sometimes."

Loki snickered, not entirely unkind.

"And here I was thinking you'd developed a speech impediment."

"Shush, you." His brother elbowed him playfully, and settled more comfortably on the bed.

Loki closed his eyes, and rolled over onto his side.

"Try not to kick me again tonight, would you?"

Thor chuckled.

"I'll think about it."

* * *

Loki slept far past every one, only woken by Thor's hand on his shoulder.

"It is almost noon, brother." he said, looking almost concerned. "Are you unwell?"

"No." he squinted around the room, blinking. "I did not hear... Did you not prepare breakfast in here?"

"We did." Thor waited for him to sit up before he sat himself on the end of his bed. "You did not even stir. Are you hungry?"

Loki scowled, looked to his stomach, waiting for a reaffirming growl, but he heard none. Thor looked on his brother with more worry when he didn't answer. He had worn his human days as well as he could - he seemed to take them as a natural evolution.

To his mind, his father hated him, then he was dead; his brother Loki would look after the throne and his mother; there was Mjolnir to retrieve, and Jane to fall in love with. He had goals and finality.

Loki did not have such things to look forward to.

"Why are you looking at me like that?" he said with a scowl.

"I was thinking."

"Never a good thing."

Thor ignored the jab.

"If you do learn your lesson, would you even return to Asgard?"

"As far as I am concerned, I have no lesson. I will simply stay here and rot - your father is the one holding the contract above my head. As long as he wants me to stay, I have no choice." he said it with the absolute certainty that he was unwanted and would forever remain useless.

Thor heaved a huge breath, and lumbered to the kitchen, returning with cold pancakes Loki very nearly inhaled. His brother watched him consume his food and crane his neck for more.

"Seeing as it is so close to luncheon, brother, why don't we spend it at a restaurant?"

"I'd rather not venture into the heat if I could." He almost added on how it seemed to disagree with him, even without his magic and Frost Giant heritage, but refrained. "Do we not have something to eat here?"

"I can order pizza?"

It was the girl with the glasses.  _Damn_  his human hearing. Were he his normal self, he would've been able to hear her heart beating.

"I've not yet had the pleasure!" Thor said, beaming. "But I would like to try this, pizza."

"Cool. You're probably going to love it. I'll order... Like, one of everything." she dug in her pocket to produce a small rectangular device that lit up at her prodding. Within seconds, she was talking into it, using words that Loki understood, but not in context.

He still said nothing, half glaring at the side of her head for sneaking up on him.

"Good afternoon." Jane said to him. He didn't reply, let them think his human ears didn't hear the sound. It must've been a regular occurrence for the breed, because no one corrected him otherwise.

The tiny scientist sat beside Thor, reaching over to take his hand. The thunderer lifted their interlocked fingers to his mouth and kissed her knuckles, beaming from behind his beard.

"It's only gonna take them like twenty minutes, no one's ordered yet." Darcy offered, flopping onto the space beside Thor. Loki was alone on his unmade bed. Stupidly, he felt rather naked, and in an effort to relieve his distress, he pulled the covers up, fisting them in both hands.

"Tell me, what have we planned for the day?" Thor ventured. He tucked a lengthy strand of wayward hair behind Jane's ear. "Do you not have science to tend?"

"Oh, we have no plans. Nothing - nothing set in concrete, you know." she cleared her throat. "Just our date, later."

"Since you're back, Jane's brains've gone AWOL on Science!." Darcy said, amused. "As if they wouldn't."

"Darcy!"

"No, seriously, though," she sat forward, speaking to Thor earnestly, honestly. "She spent so much time trying to get you back what else would she do when she did get you? I mean there are little things that keep setting off reminders and whatever that of course she's interested in, in the event you get beamed up to Scotty."

"Heimdall." Loki corrected with a slight sneer.

She ignored him.

Jane rubbed her eyes.

"I suppose it is a good time to just, be." Thor said slowly, thumb stroking over the planes of Jane's wrist. "I did miss you, when I was... gone."

"Oh jeeze, with the cute couple stuff." Darcy scoffed, and got up from the seat to fossick about in the cabinet. "Look, pizza and movies, guys. It's a cure all. What are we in the mood for?"

* * *

Thor's favorite pizza topping was Meat Lover's. Darcy was a Hawaiian girl, and Jane was very much about the Lot, but Loki (quietly) couldn't get over those tiny salty fish.

And as it turned out, Thor loved Braveheart, which prompted a quick human history lesson to explain things that were contextually real, and what wasn't. Jane thought the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy was hilarious, and Darcy's all time seriously favorite movie was always and forever The Princess Bride, of which they all liked.

Jane and Thor decided to move their date to the next night, too content in their current situation to do much but cuddle.

Loki really liked A Knight's Tale, privately, while Jane dozed upon Thor's chest in the dark of night, and Darcy retreated to bed. He watched the lie spin into an epic ballad, the lies he told to cover himself, and the lies his friends took on to aid his quest.

Thor, at one point, was very much concerned for the noble lead character, voicing his concerns outwardly, but Loki was so enraptured by the story he waved him off to better listen to the story unfold. He could say what he liked about the Midgardians and their ineptitude as a race - but they certainly had a good mind for stories.


	7. Chapter 7

When Darcy jolted awake, she was sweating, Jane was mumbling and she nearly fell out of the caravan to throw up behind it, her tazer reflexively clutched in her fist. For a few long, frightened seconds, she spun around with wide eyes, whimpering, seeing shadows coming at her in the dark morning. When she was sure she wasn't about to be jumped, she held her head, took shuddering breaths in and out, let her knees hit the ground.

It wasn't the first time some oddity dream had made her throw up and panic like that. Jane wasn't even close to being right. Her mind was not okay, her body was actively on alert all the time, and her heart had yet to catch up to the cold hard facts. She put some dirt over her sick puddle and felt guilty and stupid about it for the fourth time that week.

After a much needed shower, she aimlessly walked circles around the town until people started getting up to tend their bakeries and cafes, before returning to her trailer and curling up in her bed.

She flicked through Tumblr, Facebook, all half heartedly scanning words and feels and gifs and statuses but nothing made any difference to the cold in her head. So she checked on S.H.I.E.L.D, on her iPad and surveillance tech, and what she saw nearly made her throw up again.

"Jane! Jane, code red, CODE RED!"

* * *

"Loki, Loki get up! Loki!" He was being pulled off the bed, shaken awake. Frantic hands pulled him into standing, dragging him before he could figure out was happening, making his feet move to catch himself from falling. "Move, _move_ , come on!"

"Thor?" he could barely see through the sleep in his eyes. "Brother?"

"It's Darcy, you  _idiot_  - they're coming, move, move now!"

"Lady Darcy-"

"Not now, MusclesGlasses, we gotta go! Loki, S.H.E.I.L.D is coming!"

Her desperate voice had him reeling, following without question. She pulled him outside and took his hand, running hard towards the truck, which she shoved him into. The car started and he watched her put her hand on the back of his chair to back out at a high speed.

"What are you doing? What am I doing? What is happening-?"

"Just give me a second. Give me a minute." she dug in her pocket and produced a phone, pressing it to her ear she looked over her shoulder. "Jane? Go to Thor. Go tell him I'm not kidnapping Loki, would you?"

She paused, listened to Jane pacify the Asgardian.

"I bugged them, back when we went to see what it was they had found, the door knocking-? Yes, yes I did get out of the truck, no, you didn't notice because was flexing and you were in a rage about S.H.I.E.L.D, duh. That's not the point-"

The scientist babbled some more. Darcy dropped a gear, shifted, her eyes flicking to the rear view mirror, before she put the phone back to her ear.

"I know Jane. I know! Listen, I will get in touch with you at six o'clock to see if they are gone. I'll take care of him, Thor." and she promptly threw the phone out of the window. She glanced over at the sleep mussed human who was watching her.

"Don't panic." she said, her voice pitched. "The main thing is not to panic."

"I'm not. You, however..." he left his drawl in the air when he noticed that her shirt was mostly unbuttoned, and her sleeves were short. Her legs were bare, she was clad only in her underwear.

"Uh... Ignore my naked and I'll ignore yours." she gulped. He blinked and noticed that he was in leather pants... and not a single stitch more. "What happened to your arms, man?"

"Thor."

"Sorry, did you say you were... Thor? Get it? It's like sore, but it's not?"

"You're  _hilarious_."

"I know."

She pressed her lips together tightly, and looked again to the rear view mirror, clicking her seat belt over her shoulder. Her hands went tight on the wheel, and she glanced over at him when he left his gaze on her polka dotted underwear a second too long.

"So... You're having a good ol' perve there."

"Why are you wearing boots, and not pants?"

"Well, it's not like Miss Cooter is hanging out for everyone to see, jeeze, you're such a prude."

"I'm no prude. I'm rather enjoying the view."

She made a highly unattractive face, glanced over at him.

"Put your seat belt on. Knowing my luck, we'll get pulled over for that and then S.H.I.E.L.D will be on us like flies on a cow pat."

He put his hand on the belt but it didn't budge when he pulled it. After frustratedly tugging it a few times, she reached over and clicked it in place, not noticing the way her shirt fell open and revealed a ragged scar across her abdomen.

"What is that?" he narrowed his eyes on it. It was raised, clearly deeply inflicted, a dark line on creamy skin that shouldn't have been there.

She inhaled sharply, tucking her hand over it protectively.

"It's nothing."

"It certainly doesn't look like nothing."

"It's  _nothing_." she said more forcefully, and fixed her eyes on the glass, seeing beyond the road. "I'm going to take us into the middle of nowhere. Don't think I'm above kicking you out and leaving you here with nothing but those pants, cuz I totally will. I tazed your brother and I will leave you to burn if you start going uber creepy villain on me. Okay?"

"Whatever you say."

"Right. Good. Okay."

"What's it mean, to taze someone?"

She grinned, albeit shakily.

They drove on for a while, after she explained what a tazer did and how she used it on Thor, him still steadily waking up along the way. She finally went off road, taking them over a series of sand dunes and killing the engine. For a moment, she rested her forehead against the wheel, and sighed shakily. Then she sat back and rubbed the side of her neck, looking over at him to see his eyes flick up from the hem of her shirt.

"Stop looking at me, seriously. It's nothing."

"You  _say_  it's nothing but you hide it like it  _is_ something."

"Don't think I won't kick you out of the car."

"I'd very much like to see you try."

They glared again. She exhaled roughly, and threw her head back onto the seat.

"I didn't have to come and get you."

"Yes. About that. Why did you?" he rose a slow brow at her. "You were clearly in a rush. Collecting me merely slowed you down... Although, you shouldn't have panicked so much when you heard  _my_  name." he studied the hard line her lips had suddenly formed.

"Unless of course they were after you as well."

She stiffened all over. Her sharp blue eyes went hard on his face, but she looked like she could likely burst into tears. He loved being able to reduce her to this mess with only the power of observation. It felt more satisfactory than his previous mischief had been recently.

"So tell me."

"Loki, don't."

"What is it they are after you for?" he tipped his head, his smirk growing wider and wider with every passing second of her silence.

"They aren't."

She was telling the truth.

"So why did you worry so much for me?"

"Because I'm a good person, clearly it's misplaced."

"No... They might not be chasing your heels, but someone  _is_  after you." he studied how the tears lined her lashes so suddenly, how her hands gripped the wheel. "Ah, I see. An old friend? An old lover?"

"I'm warning you."

"If it is neither of these things... You must be a criminal."

It made her flinch.

"Stop."

"Do you know something of extreme value?"

"I mean it."

"Perhaps you stumbled across something you shouldn't." he reached over and slid his hand through the gap between her clothes, laying a gentle fingertip on her scar, which made her retreat into the seat with a small, feminine whimper. She squirmed, then violently smacked his hand away.

"Hey!"

"Has  _this_  got anything to do with it?"

"Loki!" she knocked his crawling fingers away with a harder hand. "Leave me alone!"

"Such a pretty decoration-" He didn't finish.

Not a typical woman's slap, a good and proper punch in the mouth that made his head snap back. But she didn't leave it there, either. She punched him again in the jaw and climbed up in her seat, struggling with her belt.

"I'm going to KILL YOU!"

He did the sensible thing and fell back out of the car, hard onto his back, spitting the sharp tang of blood in his mouth onto the ground. She scrambled across the seats and fell on top of him, driving her elbow down onto his shoulder with the weight of gravity behind her.

"OW!"

 _"Serves - you - right!"_  With every vicious fist fall against his face, she punctuated it word a punch.

"Get off of me,  _woman_!" he tipped her to the side, wedged her legs apart so she could stop trying to knee him in sensitive areas below the belt. His hands tried to catch hers but she was busy inflicting as much pain on his torso and face as she could. Finally he pushed up and she kicked at his legs, making him fall into the truck with a painful slam of his skull on the door.

"Stop!" he held out his hands as she got to her knees with her hands in fists. "Stop- I'm sorry! I'm... I'm sorry, I should have kept my tongue."

She was breathing hard, her chest heaving (rather attractively bulging over her bra, if one would be honest). Her eyes were like miniature suns on his face, the glare was made of fire, magnified by her lenses, and he was sure to recognize that.

"I am sorry." he said again, letting his hands slowly fall to his lap. "You did warn me." he touched his aching mouth, drawing back his fingers to see blood.

She relaxed back onto her haunches, clutching her shirt tightly around her stomach, her knuckles were glowing red. Loki, somewhat stunned, held his face and realized that she had hurt him quite a bit.

She didn't say anything, she just got up and walked around him, slamming the door back to the car. For a good long minute, Loki sat in the sand and held onto his pain, wondering where on Midgard all that rage had burst from.

So he slowly got back into the car, looking across to see that she was holding onto the wheel with two hands, staring into the center of it. Without looking at him she reached into the backseat and found a clean scrap of material.

"Your lip is bleeding." she mumbled dully.

He took it.

"Thank you."

"You're welcome."

She bit the inside of her mouth.

"I don't have to tell you anything." she grumped. "But that... may have been an overreaction."

" _May_ , have been?" He pulled the cloth away from his face to wave it at her. "Do you see how much I am  _actively bleeding_  here?"

"Wasn't attempting to rule Midgard an overreaction to your daddy issues?" she shot back. "Bet it made sense at the time, though!"

He stared at her, considering her words, the way she pinned them so easily. There was something he could recognize in her returned stare - he could see that she was looking into him, too. The sound of wheels made her jump and turn in her seat to see a black SUV approaching.

Without a single pause, her leg flipped up and over his, and her hair provided a curtain for their faces, though she was close enough to kiss. He could see that she was scared, her breathing was long and deep and although her hands were dug in the back of the seat, he could feel the tightness of her fingers.

She looked up to see the SUV slowing.

"Don't panic." Loki reminded her.

He had left his hands on the arm rests. He had to remind himself to keep them there, regardless of how close she was and how naked she was, and how long it had been since a woman had been on his lap.

"They're going." she turned and actively watched them out of sight. Loki took his chance to peer down her shirt while she was twisted.

He wet his lips, and lifted his gaze as she swung back around and sighed, settling into her seat.

"I don't trust them." she murmured, pulling all her hair to one side, twisting it nervously. "We might stay here for just a little while and then we'll go."

"That was... an unusual kind of disguise."

She surprised him and let a laugh fill the car.

"Flustered, Loki?"

"It takes much more than that to fluster me."

"I'll keep that in mind." she did a full head check around them, righting her shirt, then turned the car on.

* * *

They spent most of the day trying to achieve an acceptable level of cool. It didn't work - the money they found in nooks and crannies of the vehicle bought lunch and a large bottle of water that she insisted they shared, lest his human body gave out. The thought of sharing a drink with her in so familiar a manner made him want to curse, but over the course of the day, she did enough of that for the both of them.

Take, for example, when they had to go shopping for said food and water.

"No, you give me your pants, I'll go in." she insisted. "You don't know how to shop on my planet."

"For the last time, human-"

"You are not taking my shirt and my shoes!"

"-Do as I say!"

"Not with an attitude like that!"

"You're one to talk of  _attitude_." he threw himself bodily in the seat, folded arms across his naked chest. "Go in half clothed, then, if you so wish it. You aren't taking my pants."

" _Fucking_... Loki. Just take them off."

"I will do no such thing."

"Why?"

"Aside from them being too small on your hips-" she thwacked him on the chest with a resounding slap. "I'll break your fingers!"

"Chyeah, like that black eye is a testament to how tough you are."

"I was in shock. You throttled me like a brutish man."

_"Call me a man again."_

"You behave like a-" she cracked her hand against his bicep, making him jolt hard enough to knock his head against the roof. "OW, that's where Thor hurt me, you vicious little  _bitch_!"

" _Naw, whittle baby is thor_..." she sneered at him, glasses flashing. He held onto the steady throb in his arm with his free hand, glaring. She deflated, rubbing her temple. "Okay, I'm sorry. But I am not a man, and these hips are fantastic, and you'd be so lucky to have them in your pants."

"I don't think so. You'd break the seam wide open."

She smacked the steering wheel.

"Give me the fucking pants before I break  _you_  wide open!"

He lifted his chin.

"No. And your threats are lost on me, because you cannot follow through with them."

"IF YOU DON'T TAKE YOUR PANTS OFF I WILL!"

The windows open, everyone sat outside in the blinding sun turned to look. The woman putting fuel into her car even lifted her sunglasses to look at them.

"Fantastic." Loki muttered, and sunk into his seat, elbow on the ledge of the window, hand hiding his brow. "Now people are staring. Congratulations, you are more obnoxious than Thor."

"Just... give me the pants. I can't give you my shirt," Darcy mumbled, shooting him a heated look. "Because FYI, my shirt will be too loose in the chest area and you'll look like a grandmother sans her bra."

"Well you don't have a choice."

"Why not?"

"I am not wearing anything under these pants." he said, staring at her without blinking. When nothing in her expression changed, he continued: "Taking them off would leave me naked as a babe."

"Oh, EW. Seriously, in leather?" she motioned to his person. "Aren't you sweaty-?" abruptly, her hands flapped around her face.

"Don't, don't answer that, I don't want to - Oh, god, I'm thinking about it. My eyes! The sweat - aren't you all, _swampy_ up in-? Don't, don't, don't. Oh, ew. Ew, ew, ew."

"Now," he thought it perfectly reasonable logic, that after that she'd hand over her clothing. "Give me your shirt and boots, please."

"If you think you're cramming those hooves into these size sevens, you've got another thing coming, buddy."

"I do not have hooves!"

"Whatever, like you don't!" she rolled her eyes. "I read your mythology, buddy, I know you fucked a horse-"

"I DID NO SUCH THING YOU VILE CREATURE!"

"STOP YELLING AT ME!"

"I DO WHAT I WANT!"

"WELL WE WOULDN'T BE IN THIS SITUATION IF YOU JUST HAD'VE WORN YOUR FUCKING TIGTHY WHITEYS INSTEAD OF DOING WHAT YOU WANTED!"

He was appalled, truly.

"I AM A  _GOD_ , YOU INSIGNIFICANT-!"

"DON'T YOU FUCKING START THIS SHIT AGAIN," she slammed a hand down on the wheel, swiveled hard to glare at him. "I SWEAR I WILL END YOU-!"

"You are drawing unneeded attention." he tried for calm, spat through his teeth, at a more acceptable volume.

"AND ANOTHER THING, WHILE I'M HERE-!"

"Shut-" he slapped a hand over her mouth. "- _Up!"_

"Mppmhmh."

"Did you just lick my palm-? Ugh." he took his hand away, wiped it on his trousers, pulling a face. "You are honestly the most _feral_ creature to behold, I'll take my chances with Fury."

"You're the idiot who-"

So much for calm.

"I AM NO IDIOT!"

"-who put his hand over my mouth. Obvs, I'm gonna lick it."

She stared at him, even, like nothing offended her. He tried a notch nastier, see if he could get some color into her cheeks with crudeness.

"I wonder if the same applies to all things I put in front of your mouth?"

She didn't even miss a beat.

"Which is what your mother should've done -" SLAP. "Ow, you SONUVA _BITCH_ , YOU SLAP LIKE A PRETEEN!"

"HOW DARE YOU INSULT MY MOTHER?!" he bellowed, and no, he didn't care that everyone in the immediate vicinity was watching. "HOW DARE YOU?"

"WITH EASE, OBVIOUSLY!"

"I SWEAR BY ODIN'S EYE YOU WILL BE THE FIRST TO FEEL MY WRATH!" he seethed, putting his hands in claws and shaking them at her. "AS SOON AS I GET MY ABILITIES BACK YOU WILL KNOW IT YOU LITTLE BITCH!"

"RATHER FEEL YOUR WRATH THAN ANOTHER FUCKING SLAP!" she had a hand nursed to the red mark on her face, scowling at him. "JESUS CHRIST, YOU DON'T KISS YOUR MOTHER WITH THAT - DON't - _FUCKING -_  HIT ME-"

She managed to unwind from her belt faster than he could, on him again in an instant, her arm trapping his skull under her wing. She scrubbed hard, ruthless knuckles into the top of his skull, burning his head, and pulling at his hair.

" _OW_. OW, OW, OW!" And no matter how he pushed and shoved - and pinched her, he was ashamed that he was reduced to such tactics that didn't even  _work_  - she did not give him an inch. "ALRIGHT! I YIELD, I YIELD!"

"You gonna talk smack, huh?!"

"NO! Let go of my head -" she shifted in an unfortunate way that made him release a painful  _Guh!_  of air. "MOVE!  _You are crushing my testicles_ -"

"Make me!"

"Getoffofmeyouweighaton-"

"You say sorry and tell me I'm the prettiest girl you've ever seen and I'll think about letting you out of the Lewis Lock and maybe not crush your balls. Think on your sins! THINK ON THEM!" and she scrubbed his head until her gave.

"Alright, ALRIGHT!... I am sorry. Ugh..." he cupped himself, doubling over, as she shifted back into the driver's seat. "I can barely breathe."

"It wouldn't have hurt so much if it wasn't straight up leather on your gonads." she flipped her hair, self satisfied. "Now, tell me I'm pretty."

"You're _very pretty_."

"I'm the prettiest girl you've ever met."

"You are the  _prettiest girl I've ever met_."

"And you're sorry for being nasty."

" _I'm SO sorry for being nasty_."

"Don't strain yourself, you'll hurt something. Give us a smile..." she pulled a face. "That's mildly terrifying."

"I _loathe_ you." he promised her through his teeth.

"I love you too, peaches." she bumped her fist to her chest, gave him two fingers in a peace sign. "Lewis out."

And she flounced out, without the pants she had fought so hard for, which made him want to take the vehicle and run her over with it for all the drama they had just gone through.

Unfortunately, it appeared to him he needed to the keys she had taken upon her departure. But at least the food had been satisfactory to his stomach. The night brought with it the cool breath of air that settled both their hackles, even if she was dying from being away from technology for too long and was beginning to ask increasingly annoying question about the stars, Asgard, and all things Loki.

He mostly ignored her, answered her when he thought that it would be short enough to entertain her for a mild amount of time. But no, when he gave in, she took it as an opening, wedged herself into the door he wanted to close to avoid conversation. After several hours of awkward talking, she taught him I Spy, and they were fast running out of things to spy on that weren't ridiculous, like when she spied a 'Hipster'.

How was he going to know what a Hipster was?

Finally, they got in contact with Jane, who said that Thor would find them, they weren't in the lab. Within ten minutes, they were there, touching down, looking windswept (but still gorgeous).

"What's going on with the suits, then?"

"They're all over the lab. They interrogated us all day. Wanted to know why we didn't lodge Thor's arrival."

"What did you tell them?" Loki asked. Jane turned to address him, but was left gobsmacked at his swollen lip and blackened eye. Thor was similarly staring, his eyes nearly blown all the way open wide, only Thor didn't shoot Darcy a heated look.

"What did you  _do_  to him?"

"He started it."

"I-!" Loki exhaled shortly, a denial half out of his mouth before his sagged a little. "I did."

"Exactly." Darcy had fully expected him to own it. "We've already been over this, so whatever. Not like he didn't hit me back."

"You didn't, brother?"

"Uhm, hate to interrupt but I have a big ol' hand print on my cheek, clearly didn't smack myself in the face."

_"Loki!"_

"What? I was not going to be bullied by a little girl with a big temper."

"It's about time some one knocked some sense into you anyway." she retorted.

"Darcy!"

"What? It's true. You know he pinches-?" Thor nodded, sympathetic. It wasn't as if Loki pinched him in adulthood... just enough in childhood that he was more than aware of how much it hurt. "Anyways. What's the G.O? What do we do?"

"We're...going to Stark Tower. I've spoken to Tony and he said that, if Loki would not be a nuisance he could stay. He's calling it a favor."

"Since when did that rich asshole become 'Tony'?" Darcy snorted. "Last time he came poking around, he stuttered some shit at us both and waltzed off to a bar."

"He just wanted to see if he could help." Jane said, and Loki thought:  _Liar_. "Come on, Darcy, he said he looked forward to making friends with us. All, of us." and she shot the black haired male think that she believed that Stark told the truth.

"Alright." Darcy heaved a terrific sigh, that had her breasts bulging and special things happening south of Loki's waist. His eyebrows just about shot off his face when he realized that Thor had likewise dropped his stare to her, actively having to turn away to avert his eyes.

Loki didn't begrudge him.

"So, wait." Darcy cocked her hip. Luckily Thor was hiding his eyes, because Loki honed in on her smooth skin and his mouth popped open a little bit. "How are we getting to him, then? I see you don't have a purse on you. We already spent our twelve dollars in loose change on lunch, and the car's only a quarter tank full. We're not going to make it if we use a credit card, you know they'll jump us like a fat kid on chocolate cake."

"Well, that's the thing." Jane said with a beaming smile. "About being friends with Tony Stark."

"Since when are you two even-?" but Darcy cut herself off, head cocked at the buzzing sound in the distance. Loki managed to drag his eyes up and away from the woman, and into the sky, as his brother had done.

Together, they watched the helicopter fly over the dunes, a massive Stark Industries logo plastered on the side.


	8. Chapter 8

Tony Stark owned a strut he couldn't shake.

After they'd climbed off the helicopter - Loki had resolutely worn three seat belts across his person and developed motion sickness along the abrupt flight - the millionaire came out to meet them. He wore a pair of old blue jeans, and a t-shirt that had once been white, with what appeared to be an Iron Man comic on the front.

"I've been looking forward to when I next saw you again, kid."

"You're only human. Aside from the inbuilt battery pack. Mostly human." Darcy had been offered green cargo pants on the way, ones that she had to hold on with one hand to keep her decency. They shook hands, and Tony cracked a grin.

"Mostly. I would say 'godly' if not in present company."

"Uh huh." she grinned. "Quick question. How does it feel to be in fanfiction?"

"I'm honored. And slightly turned on, if you get the classy stuff." the handshake lingered as Darcy recalled all the times she'd marveled at the dude from afar, wondering how so much awesome could be contained into one man and a glowstick in the chest. He glanced breifly at Jane.

"And you, my beautiful science soul-mate. How you doin', sugar lips?"

"Quit." Jane snorted with all the delicacy of an old, practiced retort. "You've got a girlfriend."

"And you've got your significantly large man-friend back. Not that I wouldn't be open to several forms of sexual promiscuity. Maybe not with you, though, big guy."

Thankfully, Tony diverted the rest of his attention to Thor, clasping his hand in a meaty handshake. Thor was content with that for maybe half a second, before pulling him into a spine cracking hug. Tony made all the appropriate noise of someone squashing him to death before he was stood up again, dusting off his shirt and turning a cocked brow onto Loki.

"Well well.  _Rudolph_."

Darcy couldn't contain the snort that exploded out of her nose.

" _Stark._ "

"You look uncomfortable. How does it feel, you know, being a lowly human?""

Loki remained silent, sulking with a deep frown.

"You look a little green around the gills there, Buck. Flying doesn't agree with you? Shame."

Loki kept his tongue, but only because he was chewing on it.

"Yeah. That's what I thought. Welcome to Earth. Let me show you your rooms."

The room was nice. There was no other descriptive word in Darcy's vocab except for the elegant:

" _HOLY HOT CAKES_!" squealed at the top of her lungs. She looked at Tony like he was a god, her eyes bugging out, receiving an honest to god grin out of the guy.

"All yours, kid." he offered, swinging his arm open.

"Oh my-! Mine? This? What?" she did an awkward, excited spin around. "B-But the- THE BED IS BIGGER THAN MY  _ENTIRE TRAILER_!" she promptly went and dove onto it. "IT'S LIKE ROLLING ON  _CLOUDS_. THOR, IS THIS WHAT CLOUDS ARE LIKE?"

Thor put a hand on the bed, squashing it with an inquisitive hand.

"No." he rumbled, his brow furrowing. "It is not."

"Don't ruin it, man,  _lie to me!_ " she made a snow angel, then grabbed a fistful of her ill-fitting waistband and bounded off the bed, running to the bathroom. "IT ECHOS IN HERE OH MY GOD."

She swung out, beaming.

"Jane, there is a  _TV_  mounted on the wall above my  _Olympic swimming pool sized_ bathtub! I think I'm crying!"

Tony pushed off the wall, grinning like a fool.

"Yeah, that's cool, but get this." he hit a switch and from the counter beside her bed a coffee station lifted, the smell of already peculated caffeine filling the air. On the other side, a toaster rose, stocked with Pop Tarts, which Thor helped himself too with a wide, crumbly grin.

"What? Just-  _What_!" Darcy stole a pop tart and stared at it like she'd never seen it before.

"If there's one thing I understand about machines and people alike," Tony said, the picture of seriousness. "It is that energy sources... are always, necessary."

"I think I love you."

Tony inflated significantly, chest out.

"You ain't seen nothin' yet, kiddo. Come on. Show you the kitchen."

"There's more?!" she ran, ducked past them, holding her glasses in one hand, pants in the other.

Loki didn't leave it unnoticed that the rest of their rooms weren't introduced (just absently waved at as they past), nor where they as intensely evaluated for their reaction. Tony barely took his eyes off the bouncing girl and her hyperactive outermonolouging. But he said nothing, still a sulky human shadow.

The lounge area was one big connection to the kitchen, the area circular and colored in warm coffee tones and bolts of bright red throw pillows, splashes of shimmering gold undertones in the carpet and in the curtains. There was a floor to roof window, opening out onto a balcony and beautiful view of the city skyline. The projector-wall was massive, with a sunken landing with a poofy couch lined with a soft micro-suede that Darcy wrote her name in instantly.

"This is my couch."

"It's all one couch."

"Uh huh. Mine. My couch."

"Greedy. I like it." Tony waved his hand at the fridge. "You can type dinner options into the fridge, preferably before like, five o'clock. The chefs send it up at six or seven o'clock, so yanno."

"You're the best. Seriously."

"Yeah, I know." Tony picked up and apple from a big display of fruit and bit into it. "So, you can talk to JARVIS about the movies you want." he wiped his mouth on his forearm.

"He's my AI."

Darcy spun around from peering out the window.

"You have your own Artificial Intelligence?!" she gaped, her glasses falling down her nose.

"As if I wouldn't. J, say hello."

"Hello." said a polished, English, omnipresent voice from everywhere. "How are you, Miss Lewis?"

"Oh, dude, I'm freaking out." and without missing a beat. "How are you?"

"I am quite well, Miss Lewis. Do you find everything satisfactory?"

"Up and beyond satisfactory. We past satisfactory when we got a tour on the helicopter we got picked up in. Thanks for asking, man."

"I aim to please." he said in a smooth, proud voice, and went quiet.

"Actually, he aims to serve. He forgets that sometimes. I need to tone down his sarcasm levels."

"I am a consistently learning and adapting entity, sir. Living with you re-teaches me everything."

"Mute." Tony said resolutely, and grinned at them all. "So, this is my crib. Any questions?"

"Can I see your Iron Man suits?"

"Not without special permission."

"Give me special permission?"

He considered.

"Ask for something that doesn't border legal ramifications."

She pretended to think, tapping her chin.

"Can I have a pony?"

"I actually own racehorses, somewhere." he grinned at the pop of her jaw falling open. "Yes, I'll see what I can do to get you on one. Anything else?"

"Uhm, you might be the best person I've ever met and I'm so happy to be here right now?"

Tony beamed.

"Happy to have you, kid."

* * *

Darcy was having a blast, most often in the lab with Tony, Jane and Thor.

Jane was so excited to have her man-candy and her science soul-mate, and said science soul mate was actually a really funny guy when he stopped making dirty innuendo about Thor's hammer. She couldn't help but feed Tumblr's crazy with photos of Tony and Thor in the midst of some crazy adventure, mostly Thor lifting up heavy artillery and Jane to reach the high screens.

They kind of forgot about Loki.

Which was rude and kind of hard to do, but only if you've never met Tony Stark before. The guy was like an ego with a pair of legs and arms. In reality, he was the smartest person Darcy'd ever known – and she was flawed by his easy brilliance. He didn't even put on his cocky facade, he really was just that full of himself. But it was also easy to underestimate him, until he did things like correct exactly two numbers in Jane's equation and nearly give her a science fueled orgasm just by suggesting a theory.

Loki spent his time moping under the air conditioning. On the one event he did venture out of his room to find some company, he watched instead of engaged. He was almost entirely certain he would've been completely ignored, had the ever-present Heimdall like voice in the roof did not privately address him at the end of his eavesdropping.

He paused around the corner when he could see Darcy's bare legs and feet swinging. Her toenails were a watermelon pink, with a silver band around one of her toes. It was quiet but for the sound of metallic grinding - he then heard a too-familiar charge as the Iron Man suit blasted something.

He instinctively dropped to the floor but nothing hit him.

"There. Told ya."

"Huh. Guess I owe you twenty bucks."

"Yeah you do. Any other questions, baby girl? Wanna see if I can crush a desk with my gauntlets?"

"Ha, no. I'm broke!"

"Lesson learned?"

"Psh, what lesson?"

"Don't bet against a genius."

"Statistically speaking, you can't be right every time. I'll win one day."

"Not today."

"Very Game of Thrones."

Tony snorted. Loki was picking himself up from the floor, about to announce himself, when Tony continued with:

"That's a good one. I'll have to use it on Loki sometime."

"Oh come on. Leave him alone."

That was when his heart stopped beating.

"Why would I? He pushed me out of a window. My window. A hundred stories in the air."

"Yeah, okay, I get that. But he's not going to get any better if you keep like... degrading him. Maybe lay off the name calling a bit. He doesn't understand them anyways."

"But people like you do, which is why it's fun."

Darcy went quiet for a bit then. He legs stopped swinging.

"Oh, c'mon, don't look at me like that."

"Like what?"

"Like I'm kicking your dog."

"Never had one."

"Look, kid, I'm not going to get over this thing any time soon. This is how I cope. I mean, I let the guy live in my house. D'you think if the situation was reversed, he'd do the same for me?"

"That's irrelevant. It isn't and you can't use that as an excuse."

"I can."

"It's a piss poor excuse. Just... ease up on him." she dropped to the floor. Loki could see that she was in a pair of shorts so short the pockets were on display - that the back of her t-shirt had ridden up, caught on the corner of the table.

"I'm not going to. Ease up on him. He's only here because Jane insisted you all stick together, and I wanted you here. You both. And Thor. Are we fighting over being nice to the bad guy?"

"If someone had've been nice to him in the first place-"

"You are not blaming his world domination thing on being bullied, are you?"

"Do you know how old he is? How many lifetimes he's been alive and aware and dealing with it?"

"Do you?"

"...No. But I mean, if Vikings called it, they're at least a thousand years old. That's a long time to hate someone you're supposed to love."

"And now we're talking about Thor."

"Yes, we are." she was growing increasingly heated. "Were. I don't wanna talk about this anymore. I'm gonna take a dip in my huge bathroom." She turned with a fantastic flip of long hair, fanning out around her. Loki was backing up, quickly and quietly as he could.

"I don't know how you can defend him like you are." Tony told her, matter-of-fact. "I don't get it."

"Exactly. You don't get it."

"What's there to get?"

"I thought you were a genius?"

"Mechanical and electrical engineering, kiddo. Not people compatible."

"Like..." she thought, for a long moment, and Loki was entirely impressed with Tony's patient waiting. "You don't get how hard it is, when there is someone who's hurt you and who continues to go on with their lives, when you're ruined. You don't get what it's like for that person to succeed and for people to love them, still, after all the things they've done to you. If I got half a chance, I wouldn't try and end the world, sure, but I'd do some really morally questionable things and definitely kill someone... Someones."

There was a heavy pause.

"Some one hurt you, kid?"

Loki's pulse then developed a stutter, which is when the omnipresent voice in the roof addressed him quietly, asking if he was alright.

He started to shake his head, waiting on baited breath for Darcy's reply, having vivid images of the scar of her belly and the way she had attacked him so violently when prodded about it. He wondered if she would do the same to Stark - but she didn't.

She gave him a disarming answer and continued to walk away, giving Loki just enough of a head start to scramble up the stairs and shut his bedroom door behind him.

* * *

There were terrible dreams, and then there were the kind of terrible dreams that you remembered for the rest of your life. The weight of her agony was so powerful that she could feel it, sitting on her chest, stealing the air right out of her mouth as she screamed.

It was not a normal scream; it was total and utter fear comprised into a sound, a searing note that tore open her throat as it rushed out of her mouth. And even if she did wake up, she did not realize that she had only been dreaming, she still screamed, into her hands, her knees, pushing her back until it slammed into the wall behind her.

Thor, of course, kicked in her door with Mjolnir in hand and twisted to look around at what was attacking her, but he couldn't see it. He was bare chested, heavy footed, as he thundered into the room and put his arm around her shoulders.

Darcy was still screaming, clawing at him, drawing blood with vicious nails.

"Darcy!" Jane, in a loosely hanging, half-removed satin gown, vaulted the bed and wrapped her up in a tight embrace, rendering the girl momentarily breathless. "Darcy, honey, it's okay, it's okay, sweetheart, listen to me, listen to my voice-"

"STOP! STOP IT!"

Loki was at the door frame, watching this human plagued by the events in her own mind. He hid half of himself behind the door as Tony came barreling in with his suit still assembling around his bed hair and tired eyes - his hands glowed in either direction.

"What's going on?" his metallic voice echoed.

"Night terrors." was all the god said, and stood back as Stark hit the lights on in the room with a fist that crushed the switch into the wall.

Loki winced at the long red scratches over the girl's face and chest. They were self inflicted - Thor had hold of both her hands, looking wounded and lost as she fought to tear her own face off. Jane was pleading with her to try and see sense, to calm down, but it wasn't working. Loki vaguely felt irritation at the recognition of that kind of pain, of being trapped in his own mind.

"P-PLEASE-!"

So it really was quite selfishly motivated, when he strode forward, knelt on the bed, and caught her face between his hands. It was because he couldn't handle the screaming, that he put his very best foot forward to calm the human. Not because it upset him.

"Darcy, you're scaring the puppies." he said evenly, which made her scream stutter. "They're all running away."

"N-N-Not th-the pupp-ppies..."

"Take deep breaths." he advised her. "Breathe in and hold it. You see? Release your breath, inhale and hold it again. You are in safe hands." he leaned away, back on his haunches.

"Brother-"

"Let go of her arms."

"She will-"

"She will not."

Reluctantly, Thor let the human's hands go. They instantly flew to his, covering the bloody tracks over her cheeks, and tightened on his wrists.

"You see, now, Darcy? You are safe."

"I-...J-Jane-"

"She is here. Would you speak with her?"

"No! No, Don't, don't lea-eave me, please-!"

"I am here, with you. You are safe."

"He - I - he's gonna-"

He tutted at her.

"Listen to me. Do as I say. Take deep breaths and do not speak. You need not explain. Just breathe. Breathe in, and out." his thumbs wiped her cheeks, the tears that kept falling into the freshly wounded skin.

After a few long seconds, she opened her eyes, still filling and over flowing with tears. She hiccuped, and he lowered his head to meet her gaze, gauging whether or not she was actually awake.

With the slightest bit of pressure, he pulled her head forward, guiding her ear to his collar bone. When she landed, he put an arm over her shoulders and his chin on her head, as his mother used to do for him when he was a child.

"You are safe." he murmured, rubbing a small circle on her shoulder. "Listen to the sound of my heart. Ground yourself in it, every time you hear it pump, every breath you feel, it is reality, is it not?"

She was whimpering.

"Darcy. Is the sound of a heartbeat not reality?"

"Y-...Yeah." she sniffed.

"And in reality, you are safe. It is all you need to know."

Her arms wound around his waist. She anchored her head in the curve of his shoulder, tears dropping onto the exposed skin of his collar bone. He ran a hand over her hair, somewhat experimentally, and she softened even more. This startling reaction was cause enough for him to repeat the gentle stroking of her head, and she soon succumbed to near silence. She'd stopped shaking, at least.

"Wow." Was all Tony said. "Nice work there, sandman."

"Is she okay?" Jane asked him timidly.

He didn't answer; he was still reeling after Stark's compliment. He didn't know what trickery that was, to honestly congratulate an enemy of your world, and he was trying to figure it out. He recognized the name of sandman as an entity told that put children to sleep of a nighttime - it was not maliciously said.

"Loki?" he lifted a brow at the tiny Midgardian that had stolen his brother's heart, as she had. "Thank you."

The wind was nearly knocked out of him. Were these creatures so dull as to think this one act was fueled by kindness, not selfishness?

He nodded as best he could with the girl under his chin, as she were.

"Yes, brother. Thank you." Thor's hand pressed against his shoulder, when Loki had tensed for impact.

"These nightmares are getting out of control." Jane said, swallowing back a mouthful of tears. "I thought these were over and done with."

"Is it common for your kind to suffer this way?" Thor wanted to know. "Darcy said that... my absence, causes the crux of your night terrors."

Jane flushed, took his hand in hers, fixing the strap of her night gown with the other.

"I couldn't tell you for sure. But Darcy... I'd caught her a few times, roaming around at crazy hours. Throwing up because of things she'd seen in her head. I thought it had stopped."

"She lied." Loki said, and without quite realizing it until they both looked at him strangely, had pressed his cheek against the crown of her head. He was holding onto her as she held so tightly onto him, and he blinked at the expressions of their faces. "What?"

"Why did you say nothing, brother?"

"I did not know what she was lying about. Not all my talents have left me; when your lady asked if she'd slept well, she would reply with 'yes, bosslady', and you'd believe her. That was all I knew, that she had not slept well. That she was suffering like this, that was yours to know."

"Huh." Tony said, and crouched down beside the girl, who was absently staring into nothing, her cheeks red and scratched. "Hey baby girl. You conscious?"

There was a small pause, but she nodded enough that Loki felt it, and removed his arm from her shoulders. She let him complete another calming stroke of her hair, and leaned up, wiping her face on her forearm.

"Come on, kid." Tony stood, offered his armored arm. "I'll fix it."

She took his arm and lifted from the bed, lingering a moment to cast a doe-eyed look down at the former god.

"You told me there were puppies." she said, with a wobbly smile. He understood it as a thanks, more so than the actual thanks he had received. "Liar, liar, pants on fire."

"I'm not exactly known for honesty." he said dryly, and got to his feet, casually going to the door and returning to his room without so much as a glance back.

"You guys will be fine, right?" Tony said, leading her away. "Who am I kidding? You're fine. I'll handle it, Jane. Don't stress. I'm a genius." although he tried to rub his eyes with a hand still encased in armor and poked himself in the eye.

"Ow."

"You okay?" Darcy said.

"Sure am. Them's some pretty impressive lungs you got there."

"Singing lessons."

"Oh yeah. You sing?"

"Not well. Just loud." she snorted and held onto his arm a little tighter.

"So, Polly."

"Polly?"

"Poli-Sci. Useless."

"Only to you." she sniffed, part self righteously, part because of her leaking nose.

"So you're Polly."

"Calling me useless?"

"Far from." he said easily, and flicked a switch that made his armor fold into and around itself, collapsing into a brief case he toed behind the couch. He re-offered his hand, taking hers. "I'm gonna show you something only the privileged have ever seen."

"Should I be concerned about my virtue?"

"No. You aren't my type."

"I think I'm offended."

"You aren't a pretty crier, kid. Hate to tell you."

"Oh, no, I'm well aware." she pressed her hand to her stinging cheek.

He briefly looked uncomfortable, then smiled, looking sleepy and mussed. Contrary to his less-than-stellar appearance, he beamed at her, and she could feel the warmth in it, enough to make her grin in return. Tony Stark was never a man to tread middle ground, he was at one extreme or the other.

When he chose to be nice, he was  _very_  nice, and when he chose someone to take under his wing, they didn't get a choice - they were head-locked under his arm and dragged around.

"Tell me. How much do you glean from Janey-Jane and her astrophysical psycho babble?"

"I glean little to nothing." she wiped her face, impatiently finding red smears of blood. "Jane talks too fast and doesn't understand the meaning of metaphor. I'm a metaphor kinda girl."

"Good."

"Why's that good?"

"Because you aren't yet corrupted. Also, I happen to be choc full of metaphors."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you so much to the lovely comments!   
> It's gonna start being more what it's promised, now, so buckle in ;)


	9. Chapter 9

"Bruce Banner?" Jane just about peed her pants. "The, Bruce Banner?"

"One and only." Tony replied. "We're kind of science bros. Don't get me wrong, you and I are science soul mates, and if Pepper wasn't around, and if Pure Blonde wasn't around, you and I-"

"You're not my type." Jane told him, with wide eyes. "But Bruce Banner is!"

"Sheesh." Darcy rubbed her head, blinking as though she'd just woken from a deep sleep. In her hand, a small motor, and a thin screwdriver. There was a smear of liquid band-aids on her face, and  _someone_  had clumsily tied her hair back for her. She also had band-aids on her knuckles, machinery induced injuries on her hands, too. "How long've I been down here?"

"About thirteen hours. You and I both, kiddo. Hungry?"

"No..." she looked around her immediant vicinity. There were one, two, three, four, five, six empty cups, one still half full with ice cold coffee. There were crumbs in her lap and a small stack of plates on her left, beside a bunch of hastily made scribbles in handwriting that wasn't hers.

"Anything dancing yet?"

"No..."

"I give it another hour before things wiggle at you. Hallucinogenic is the best state of exhaustion to be in, trust me, I get my best work done then."

"Actually, sir-"

"Mute." Tony said, and nudged Darcy. "What have we learned today, kid?"

"We've learned that science is the answer to every problem, ever." Darcy replied with all due vehemence, sitting a little straighter. "And measly, lesser mortals should just accept that without a fight, and allow us to fix the world."

"Sounds familiar." Loki drawled from his dark corner.

Awkward.

"Brother, do not tease them thusly. They do not understand your humor." Thor said lightly, looking at the pale shade on Jane's face. "My love, he says it in jest."

"Oh. Okay." Jane said, though she edged just a little closer to her soothingly huge Aesir, her eyes going back and forth between Tony and Loki.

"When did you get in here?" Tony demanded. "And what are you doing with those cards?"

"Building a castle. It takes a delicate touch. Also, I've been here for the better part of four hours."

"Liar!"

"To you, dear Stark?" he lifted his eyes to him, one brow cocked. "Never."

"Jarvis, how long's he been in here?"

"Three and a half hours, sir. I tried to tell you, but I was put on mute." The AI sounded particularly snide in his accusation. Darcy felt genuinely sorry for the poor fake man.

"Ah." he said shortly, then rounded on Loki. "You could make some noise, you know."

"I don't feel the need to enter the room with bravado such as yours." was his absent reply. "Discretion is the better part of valor, and all that noise." He was busy stacking his rather impressive house of cards, not even bothering to look at their host.

"I'll get you a kitty collar if you keep it up."

Loki's brows drew at the term 'collar', as did Thor's.

"Friend Stark, a collar is unnecessary. Particularly one so small as to encircle the throat of a kitty."

"Oh, you know the noble kitty?" Tony mused, going over to relieve Darcy of her motor, which she was inspecting with her tongue poking out.

"Yes." the big man declared in a happy bellow. "My lady Jane told me. She is knowledgeable in all things."

"I may have mentioned." Jane said bashfully. "What a cat was."

"Did I make that?" Darcy was kind of, bewildered. "What the hell have you been teaching me, Tony?"

"I didn't do much. You're raw potential. This isn't half bad."

"Darcy built a lot of the equipment I used before the S.H.E.I.L.D fiasco." Jane offered, moving Thor's arms to nestle on his lap. He tucked his chin over her shoulder and wound his forearms around her tiny waist, doubling over her. "She was pretty good with it all."

"I'm handy with a wrench. Had to be, my mother's useless with home repairs." she rolled her eyes briefly, though peered at the motor Tony was tweaking. "What did I do wrong?"

"Actually, kid, nothing's wrong. Your shortcuts are pretty advanced." he showed her what he was doing, and she watched without blinking. "Do you wanna keep working on this, or shall I reserve a desk for you here?"

"Yeah, if you don't mind... I don't want to like, track oil through your pretty tower. 'Sides, I'll need help eventually." she glanced at the pages. "What was I making?"

"Beats me." he shrugged. "You were in a head space. You'll figure it out. These things just come together in the end."

"And what, you fed me?" she asked with good humor and a large yawn.

"He can barely feed himself at the best of times." Jane murmured.

"So he's you in your head space?" Darcy winked at her, which Jane received with a brief eye roll.

"No, Janey's right. Dum-E did."

The robot excitedly wheeled over to them, rose his claw up to Darcy's height. He had what appeared to be bright red lipstick kisses on his claw, and a matching band-aids to what Darcy had.

"Oh, shit, I couldn't remember why I was avoiding the 'D' word." he grumped.

"Naww!"

He squeaked at her, made noises, and moved up and down like nodding. He made quite a show of carefully picking up her coffee cup and handing it to her. It soon became apparent who had been feeding her for the entire day.

"Hang on, why is he covered in make up?"

Dum-E promptly wheeled around, snatching up a mirror to swipe and accidentally throw into her lap. Tony glared at him and he dutifully recoiled and sagged, but Darcy giggled, negating all of that.

"Thank-you, baby." she reached out and petted him, and he squealed in reply, zooming in happy circles.

"Alright, back to your station. I can't deal with this." the robot made a sad sound at Tony, and Darcy mimicked it. "I said, go back! Don't encourage him, he's supposed to listen to me. I am your father, and I say, go back to your station!"

Dum-E retreated, making himself as small as possible, then turned off to crash back on his charging pad. She gave him a sad wave, and he returned it, before charging down and becoming still. Darcy was pouting when she looked in the mirror, and yes, some where along the line she'd put her face on. She was also wearing jeans, and had no idea how they got there.

"You didn't have to yell at him." Darcy told the genius, who cocked a brow at her.

"Stop flirting with my robots. You've already got Jarvis under your thumb."

"I resent that." the AI interjected. "I am not a physical entity. I cannot be weighed under a thumb."

"I know that, dummy - Not you! You, got back to your station! U, I wasn't - no,  _U_ , shut up and power down. I will donate every single one of you."

"Donate them to me." Darcy told him, and went up to inspect the whistling robot at his station.

The doors slid open, and a sheepish looking Bruce Banner stood with a weathered suitcase in one hand and ugly brown jacket over the other arm.

"Hello." he said, and looked ancient and worn. "Sorry I'm late. I forgot what traffic was like."

"Shoulda let me send the StarkCopter." Tony said with a cheeky grin. "Bruce, this is Darcy, Thor, Jane - the weedy guy in the back is Loki, your significantly greener alter ego knows him intimately."

Bruce didn't look at Loki for long. Loki was thankful. Thor beamed and bounded over to crush him in a hug enough to lift him off the floor, but it was somewhat refined, considering he had Tony at least a meter off the ground when he reunited with him.

"Hi." he patted Thor's shoulder. "How are you?"

"I am most well, shield brother! How do you fare? Was your trip here unkind?"

"Slightly. Missed the bustle, a little bit." he was let down, allowed to fix his glasses.

Jane had gone up behind them, and stuck her hand out when he landed.

"Dr. Banner. I'm Dr. Jane Foster. It is an absolute honor to meet you."

"Oh, Dr. Foster?" his eyebrows rose. "I've read your work."

"You have?" she beamed.

"Yes, of course. You're kind of the bad girl of the science world. Excellent work, though." he shook her hand more enthusiastically. "I'm glad something of your studies has come good."

"I think he means, 'become a god'." Darcy told Dum-E, who made a sound like laughter. "Oh my Thor, I want one."

"You can't have him. Dum-E's my baby. I made him when I was like, twelve." Tony snorted.

"You were fathering children at twelve?"

"I cannot say it is surprising." Loki drawled, and kept behind the steadily raising castle of cards. He had three more decks balanced on his knee - he didn't struggle with them, just put one on top of the other, paused to ensure they wouldn't fall, then went onto the next one.

Bruce spared him an even, uninterested look, then went to Tony and Darcy, offering his hand to them both.

"So serious." Darcy beamed, shaking his hand.

"It's kind of his M.O." Tony said with a half smile. "This is Darcy Lewis. She's the kid from New Mexico."

"I, am not a kid." She bumped him with her hip, but shared a grin with the scientist. "I'm the one who introduced Thor to a tazer. Though Jane hit him with the car. Twice."

"That was an accident." the scientist flushed and started to hastily explain herself to Bruce, who was amused, nodding along. From there they turned to the subject of Thor's crashing down to Earth - which prodded scientific questions Tony soon added to - to another scientific field that spiraled from there. All three of them were growing increasingly animated, answering and asking questions where they saw fit.

"We're out of our depth." Darcy mused, waving to Jane as she went. Tony returned it, though absently, already half way through his fairly extensive knowledge on gamma radiation in relation to the space-time continuum between Science Bro and Science Soulmate.

Thor nodded, hummed, and turned to leave, but jogged back to press a quick kiss to Jane's cheek. She turned and caught it on the mouth, before resuming her speech as though nothing had impaired her. Bruce wasn't even slightly phased by the show of affection, rapt up in whatever Jane was saying.

"You make me sick." Darcy said with a bright smile. "Remind me again how I'm dying alone with lots of cats, why don't you?"

"What is this, cat?" Loki's brow was drawn in thought. He had his cards shuffled between closed palms, standing at her right side, just out of her peripheral vision. She hadn't even realized he'd moved. "This is the second time I've heard the term."

"A small animal that gives birth to live young. They have long tails, and are fluffy." Thor declared in a proud bellow.

"Unless you're Dr. Evil." Darcy offered, and kept the significantly larger god between herself and the trickster as they wondered back to the lounge room.

* * *

 

Darcy was casually in a pair of baggy pajamas; her shirt was v-neck and white, never a good thing when one is prone to black lace. She was up on the counter, cross legged, enjoying a sleepy bowl of coco pops after a good sleep with not one single dream. She had disappeared to drink from the bowl for maybe two full seconds, enjoying life, when she dropped it down again snorted it through her nose.

"Eloquent."

"What is wrong with you?!" she wiped her hand over her mouth, slammed the bowl down beside her. "Seriously, why would you do this to me?!"

"I don't do anything to you with intentions of that disgusting reaction." he was in a similar get up as she was, only his pajama bottoms were green stripes to where hers where purple. His hair was washed and he looked younger, somehow. "Stop gawking."

"Why are you so... Bright? Did you do something bad?"

He snorted.

"Even if I had, would I tell you?"

"You actually look... Better. Cleaner. Not as-" she made a cutting motion with her hands around her face. "Sharp."

He just blinked at her.

"Haircut." she snapped her fingers and pointed at him. "You've got a haircut."

"...I have."

"Did you do it yourself? I didn't think you knew how to navigate yourself to a barber. It looks really good."

There was an intense pause.

"Are you complimenting me?"

"But... That's not it. Oh my god, you aren't wearing a 'woe is me' face. The whole - thing..." she gave him a long up and down. "All of this... Looks good on you."

He looked completely startled.

"Uh, Loki? Now you're gawking. And you're aiming the gawk at me. And I am uncomfortable as a poodle in space."

"I-" he made a strangled sound. Cleared his throat, and picked up an apple. "Well, I've no inclination as to what a poodle is, I assume a poodle wouldn't be uncomfortable in space, it'd be dead." And then he casually sauntered away after picking up an apple.

"...Good morning to you too!" she hollered out after him.

Bruce came in, wearing his dress slacks and a purple shirt rolled up at the sleeves. His glasses were on top of his head and he was rubbing his eyes, as Jane walked in, supported by Tony, who was whistling a cheerful tune.

"Good morning." Darcy offered. "Science yourselves out?"

"Never." Tony sat the woman in a chair, went over and threw some pop tarts in the toaster. Jane slumped, already snoring, and Bruce fiddled with the kettle, trying to find the on button. Darcy leaned over and flicked the switch for him, to which he hummed, pleased by the help.

"Thank you."

"Welcome. You guys look like zombies. I made Thor watch 28 days later with me last night, beeteedubs."

"Ugghh." Was Jane's reply. Thor got into movies a little too hard, taking the reality of them a little too literally, becoming all sorts of paranoid and impressed. He went through phases, and it was adorable.

"What was our antlered friend up to?"

"Playing with his cards." Darcy emptied her bowl, washing it quickly, before putting it upside down to drain. "Thor's developed a zombie thing."

"Nnnuuhg." was Jane's reply.

"Did you break Jane's brains?" She cocked a brow at Tony, who rose both hands in defense, pointing at Bruce, who was smiling slightly as he yawned. He looked worn out, but chilled as a cucumber in snow. He had a smudge of ink on the back of his hand which had some how transferred to his cheekbone, and his glasses were currently being wiped on his shirt.

Tony looked chipper and fine, for all he was now presumably awake for twenty plus hours.

"Sleep well?" he asked Darcy.

"I don't think I moved. At all." she grinned. "I haven't slept like that since high school, man."

"Why?"

"Prone to bad dreams." she shrugged. "Always have been. Not like, you know,  _that one_ , but bad enough."

Bruce politely refrained from asking what it was he was missing, to which Darcy was intensely grateful. It was hard enough to not-explain to Jane, let alone someone who when provoked, grew exponentially and threw a green tantrum.

Thor walked in, scrubbing his face.

"My lady Jane." he pressed a tender kiss on the top of her head. "You did not retire for the evening. I grew concerned that my shield brothers would whisk you away with their talk of science."

"Not if you'd take your damn shirt off." Darcy mumbled, and Bruce sent her an amused eyebrow quirk, which made her wink back at him. "Hey, you too, Mr. Salt 'n' Pepper."

He just shook his head with a chuckle.

"Would I do that to you?" Jane asked her god weakly. "Do you really think that?"

"Not ever, love." and he pressed a kiss on top of her head.

"The cute. I can't." Darcy was internally glowing; she was happy that he could draw coherent sentences from her science friend when no one else could. It would make Jane-wrangling a lot easier on her until Thor got a hold on the process. And then, eventually, she wouldn't be needed.

There was an absent moment when she missed the intimacy of being in a relationship, and then Captain America walked in.

She, in her jammies, with milk splattered half way down her front from being Loki'd, was not expecting this. Her eyes bugged out (not attractive) her mouth popped open, (here's hoping she swallowed most of her Coco Pops) and she felt suddenly weak at the knees (seriously, Lewis, you're not in a Jane Austin novel, pull yourself together.)

"Hi." he hadn't even noticed her, because she'd done this, shrink behind Tony thing. He was all, handsome and windswept, a motorcycle helmet tucked under his arm. His fringe was a little too long for his traditional cookie-cutter style - it flopped down above his brow, while the rest was all stiff, stuck back into shape.

"Hi." Jane offered, though Thor went to him and clasped his arm in a meaty handshake, grinning widely. Steve seemed to be prepared to be picked up and swung around, which is probably why Thor didn't do it.

"Steven Rogers, Captain, this is my lady Jane. Jane, love, this is Steven Rogers - he is my brother in battle."

"So he is." she waved, her glasses reflecting most of the light filtering in through the window.

"And I'm Darcy." was that her voice? Why was she standing up so straight? Why was Tony watching her with both eyebrows cocked? She offered a saucy wink and two finger salute, then nearly vaulted the bench to extend her own hand.

"Lady Darcy is my friend." Thor went on with a fond grin in her direction. "Most defensive of Jane, she rendered me useless in my human form."

"Wow." was what Steve said, and shook her hand. "Hi, Darcy. I'm Steve."

"How goes it, Steve?" was she...  _fluttering_  her  _lashes_? Oh, god, she was a mess. But he seemed to be responding well, smiling a nice-boy bashful smile and dropping his head just a little. Didn't matter he tried to hide the blush on his face, because he was honestly so tall she could still see the pink bloom on his cheeks.

"Yeah, hi, Spangles. Remember me? Host?" Tony tossed a loose arm around her shoulders. "How was the ride? Don't tell me, I don't care. Did you find your room? JARVIS, we put Cap in his own floor?"

"No sir. You told me to put Captain Rogers on the floor with the other guests."

"I changed my mind. Put him on my floor."

"Sir, Captain Rogers has already deposited his things by U and Dum-E. Dum-E has since brought most of those things to his allocated room."

"Oh, my poor baby." Darcy aimed a pout at the roof. "Does he need my help?"

"...Actually, Miss Lewis, I think he might welcome that."

"He doesn't need help, he'll be fine." Tony scoffed. "Reroute where he's sleeping, is all."

"What's the problem?" Darcy cocked a brow. "You want the pretty war hero all to yourself?"

"Yup. That's it. I want him all to myself. That, and, heavy lifting, you know, I'm getting old. How can I build things I can't lift? Exactly. That's why I need Cap. And you, you just, don't need Cap. You need to un-Cap. See what I did there? Can you even catch my drift?"

"I'm going to help Dum-E. C'mon, solider boy, you can come with me. Flex those muscles I hear so much about." Darcy ducked out from under the mechanic's arm sent a grin back over her shoulder that lit the entire tower from the inside up. "Be back in a jiff, you guys." And she proceeded to lead Captain America out of the room.

Darcy wasn't super human, but she did catch Jane saying something about Tony's 'laying it on too thick'. His retort, however, was cut short by a bewildered Bruce Banner, asking exactly what that meant.

"Hey JARVIS?"

"Yes, Miss Lewis?"

She slowed into an easy stroll.

"Where was Cap's original room?"

"You cannot miss it, Miss Lewis. Dum-E does not posses the ability to close doors."

They rounded the corner to see two large bags not-so-neatly stacked on one another, smack bang in the middle of the doorway. Dum-E was dragging a backpack behind him, but when his camera caught Darcy's image, he squealed with excited meant and sped over to them. Steve, quite adorably, put himself between her and the robot, but she had likewise gushed, grinning ear-to-ear.

"Hey, buddy!" she bent, putting hands out to catch his claw. He left skidmarks in his wake, pumping the brakes so that she was unharmed. The bag swung after him, however, and hit him in the back wheel, knocking him forward a clumsy inch. "Oh, baby. I missed you too."

He whistled at her, apparently telling her a long stream of things, with animated claw maneuvering.

"What...?" Steve bent to stare. " _This_  is Dummy?"

"Yeah. Tony built in in his early teens or something. He's the best." Darcy grinned at the spinning robot. "He's really helpful. Come on, my little minion. I see three bags and you've got a helping claw."

He nodded - or, the robot equivalent to nodding, when it didn't have a head - and seemed to pointedly stare at Steve, claw cocked.

"Oh, my manners are abysmal. Steve, Dum-E. Dum-E, this is Steve. Can I call you Steve?"

"Absolutely." he smiled at her, and the world narrowed in on that moment. She sighed, her smile only dreamily half cocked.

"Right. Okay. I will. Shall we?"

Dum-E whistled, and Darcy put her hand on top of his claw, making him squeak and rock from side to side. He sped down the hall, turned around, sped back to them, rolling backward while Steve and Darcy both took a handle of the same bag.

"Really, ma'am- you don't have to." he appeared to be flustered. "I can carry these."

"I said I'd help." she beamed, and hoisted the smaller bag up onto her forearm. "And please, ma'am makes me feel like a librarian. Call me Darcy."

"Darcy." he repeated, and smiled. "I can do that."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Introducing all the Avengers!!
> 
> Clint's coming soon :D


	10. Chapter 10

Darcy was trying to paint her toenails, a bright blue with glitter run through the polish. She had meticulously trimmed and filed them into equal size; living in the same tower as Captain America just made attention to detail very necessary. Lest she looked down at her feet whilst talking to him earlier that morning and saw what her hyperactive mind had described as hangnails.

Attention to detail was exactly why Jane had not begrudged going bra shopping after Steve had settled into his temporary state of residence. Jane didn't really have a lot to offer in the er- chest, department, but Darcy's help and strategic bra padding and she certainly had the illusion of something to fill the b-cup.

Darcy was painting with her eyes glued to the huge projection of  _16 and Pregnant_ with Jane at her side, scowling into various mathematical schematics while Thor slept in for the morning. Tony, in ugly brown sweat pants and a Iron Man zip up hoodie, made a disgusted sound and told JARVIS to turn it off.

"Don't you dare!" Darcy turned and scowled at him. JARVIS naturally listened to her. "Tony! Do you want me to dragon-kick you in the head?"

Loki entered, though no one looked up at him. He slid onto Darcy's other side, though he kept a distance. He watched her cap the bottle of white nail color and look at her badly done left foot, the emptiness of the right glaring back

"Don't watch that crap, it's poison."

"It's not poison, you're poison."

"I'm the best kind of poison."

"Like arsenic, emphasis on the arse!" she shot back, twisting to look at her unfinished paint job. "Ugh. Eff my life, seriously right now. Why do you even have the season, if you hate it so much?"

"Just to weed out moments like this." he said, cup of coffee in hand. "I don't encourage teen pregnancy."

"Unless it's you gettin' bitches pregnant." Darcy complained, making Loki let a small 'heh' into his coffee. "See? Loki agrees with me."

"So what? He also tried to take over the world."

"Not relevant. We're right. You're wrong." Loki straightened at 'we', blinking widely at the side of her head. It was so confusing, to be counted in her number.

Tony told JARVIS to turn the tv off, and hesitantly, he did.

"Put my show back on."

"No. Don't get pregnant." he warned her.

"Ah, Tony, you need a boyfriend to get pregnant-"

"No you don't. Trust me."

"Oh, wow." Jane muttered. "Is this really happening?"

"Do you take me for a- a-...?!"

"Harlot." Loki offered, bemused, as she thanked him and took use of the word. He turned in his seat to watch the escalating verbal spar, though both parties wore smiles, enjoying the snarky banter. It became apparent they both lived off of that kind of energy, both liked to have a wit to butt against, keep their tongues sharp.

He noticed that Stark had a similar smirk to the one Darcy wore. Similarly shaped eyes. Her mouth was poutier, however, and her eyes a bright blue, where his were thin and dark, respectively.

Loki began to notice a lot of similar things, then.

"Look, kid, you're under my roof, don't get pregnant."

"And who exactly am I going to get pregnant with?"

"I'd volunteer my services if I didn't already fear being dragon-kicked in the head." Loki mused, raising his eyebrows at the back of her head. Jane whipped her head up, her mouth open, while Stark just looked on him with a confused, slightly damaged expression. Darcy turned more slowly, mimicking the exact same look.

He repressed a snort and stood with a sigh, sipping his coffee, beginning to walk away under the chaos assuredly to follow.

"Psh, you couldn't handle me." Darcy said with a bright grin, rolling over the back of the couch into standing.

"I'd put my life on being quite able to handle you." he said without missing a beat. "They have not bequeathed me with title of 'Silvertongue' unjustly."

"Wow." Jane cleared her throat. "Okay. I'm just going to-" and she got up, most of her equations left behind on the seat in the ring around where she'd been sitting. She was shaking her head as she left, refusing to make eye contact with anything but the floor.

Darcy put her hand over her mouth to catch the laugh that shouted out. She could feel she was blushing, but it had been a damn long time since Lewis' daughter had blushed. She pressed the other hand to her cheek and laughed again, because the look on Tony's face was mortified, while Loki stood there, half amused, half prepared to be hit.

He was like an abused animal, or something. Darcy had not ever been able to walk past a bullied creature without at least offering her friendship. It was an impairment; it had gotten her into a lot of childhood fistfights.

"So there's the joker Thor tells me about." she said, removing hands from her face. "Nice to meet you."

Loki just blinked, the humor from him visibly draining. Tony was watching his face with a frown - he didn't like where the joke had been going, and he didn't like how easily Darcy encouraged it. Darcy was smiling at him, this retired god, and he had no idea what to make of it.

"Hey Loki," she said with a particularly mischievous glitter in her eye. "I was thinking you and I should-"

"Miss Lewis? Your mother is on the phone." JARVIS said politely, possibly sensing Tony's raising blood pressure. "She insists it's an emergency."

"She always does. Where's the nearest headset?" she looked around. Loki followed her only with his eyes, a hopeful breath trapped behind his lips. "Thanks JARVIS, you're the best." she slid the arm of a small bluetooth piece over her ear, sending Tony and Loki smiles that looked like  _lies_.

"Excuse me for like, an hour. My mother will talk my ear off. Yes, I mean you. I say it with love. How are you feeling?" and she casually left the room.

* * *

"So... You're going to invite the rest of the team over." Bruce had chopsticks poised in his hand, eyebrows hiked high in disbelief. "In the tower. Together."

"Yup." Tony simply shoveled his noodles into his mouth with no finesse, just mess.

"I thought it might be- a bad, idea." Pepper offered, more elegantly twirling her fork into her noodles. "You guys haven't all been assembled since you cornered Loki in our lounge room. The same lounge room, may I remind you, they'll be living in."

"Jane says SHIELD's in on Thor's arrival, we'll be fine."

"Having SHIELD know something and having the members of SHIELD in on that secret are two different things. This is a bad idea." Jane offered quietly. "They'll either start collecting DNA samples from Thor or they'll set up permanent surveillance or... Not to mention what Loki did to Hawkeye." She was sat on the floor, her head tucked on Thor's shoulder, while he had his tongue out in concentration, trying to make his hand conform to the shape the chopsticks required him to make.

"Now he's human... Hawkeye is highly trained assassin. He has the means and the motive. Is this... going to end well?"

"I will talk to my brother, and my brother of the shield." Thor offered in a low, thrumming rumble. "Since coming to this tower he has withdrawn from me more - I felt our usual companionship stir in the desert. I had thought he might yet break his cool and earn his magic back by now; I cannot say it isn't disappointing for the both of us. I watch him age daily and I do not like it." he took a small, sad breath in, and very quietly said:

"He was supposed to live forever, with me."

There was a very heavy silence. Bruce averted his eyes, shifting in the lab chair.

"What do you expect to get out of this, Tony?" Bruce asked him, burying through his noodles, hunting for some chicken he might've neglected earlier.

"I expect that we'll have to bond, or something. Steve's having nightmares and won't tell me - what would I know, it's not like I've suffered POW style." he rolled his eyes. "I figure, the rest of us are here, and we're - bonding, or whatever, makes a better team, right? Romanoff and Barton are already on the outer, let's be honest. We've got a dude from another century and a dude from another world and you're both still in, with us, compared to them."

"I thank you for including me in your 'in'." Thor teased with a grin. Tony bowed with all due theatrics.

"So you're doing this to help the team?" Bruce was not convinced.

"It is an excellent idea, given that Hawkeye does not harbor deathly ill-will toward my brother, and only then." Thor lifted his eyes to Tony. "This has- potential, to end very badly."

"But if it ends well, it ends really well. I'll throw down with Robin Hood if it comes to it. Steve'll connect and have a solider to chat with - I don't know what Romanoff's gonna do. Naked redheaded pillow fights?" he said hopefully, staring at Pepper.

"Semi naked and you're not allowed to touch." and she effortlessly made him sag, defeated.

"I don't know." Bruce was saying, shaking his head slowly. He found a stray bit of chicken and captured it, lifting it from the bowl. "I just- I don't know. There's... a lot, of variables."

"Tell me about it." Tony shoveled more food into his mouth, pushed it into one cheek, and said: "Like our hammer-friendly demi-god said, it had 'potential' to end badly. 'Potential' is an undefinable percentile. This could 'potentially' end very well."

"And if it doesn't?" Pepper looked at him then, concerned. "This is on you. I'll call Natasha ahead and explain. She's close with Hawkeye, and he's the one I'm worried about the most."

"It is not as though my brother is entirely without skill." Thor amended roughly. "But to lose him to a comrade would be - painful."

"Understandably." Bruce nodded to him, acknowledging the risk.

Jane was staring holes into Tony's forehead, and he was very animatedly ignoring her. Pepper caught this first - her awareness picked up the other two on the battle of wills. Finally, Tony sent her a mega watt smile.

She was not amused.

"You're not doing this because of-... Steve and Loki needing to be...  _Distracted."_ her narrowed her eyes slightly. "Are you?"

Thor's brows furrowed. Then apparently something slotted in his brain, because he made a small, agreeable noise, and went back to stabbing his noodles with sticks.

"What makes you say that? I'm not defending anyone."

"That's not what I said."

"Distracting. Right. That's what I said."

"You said defending." Thor mumbled, though it was loud enough to echo through the room.

"I'm missing something." Pepper glanced to Bruce, who could only shrug. "Tony?"

"I'm not defend- distracting, anyone. I'm not. I'm not like that. Why would I-? No. That's dumb. Illogical. I'm not." he stood. "It's for the greater good. It's not selfish, or whatever. I'm going to bed."

"It's half past six-"

"I'm a big boy now, and I can say when I go to bed. Nighty night, losers."

* * *

"Out of the question." were the first words out of Loki's mouth. They quietened, glanced his way. He reiterated, in so small a term as there human brains would process. "No."

"Well, seeing as it's my tower and they're already here, you don't actually get choice. The head's up was me being nice."

"They're what?" Steve repeated sharply.

"They're already here," Tony said, swinging around to the opening elevator doors. He put a hand down on the back of Darcy's chair, waving the other around absently. "The foxy redhead is Natasha, and this is Cupid. Just don't mind-"

"Clint?!" Darcy had jumped to her feet so hard her chair had tipped up, nearly sending Tony down. Both hands folded over her mouth, and her glasses had fallen off of her face, hitting the floor, unmistakably cracked.

"Hey, Darce." his grin was only slightly strained, as his eyes did the circuit of the room, looking for the trickster that wasn't there.

She ran at him, nearly barreling over Bruce to fling herself into his arms, which were open and waiting. He'd strode forward to catch her, making a gruff noise as she landed. His hand closed familiarly over the back of her head, the other arm pulling her waist tight to his body - she put his face against his throat like she was trying to inhale his pulse, her arms wound around his shoulders.

"Ohmygod, ohmy _god_!" she pressed her hand over her eyes, then did a double take to see he was still there, still under her face. She wiggled until she was set down, and put both hands on his biceps, squeezing for further assurance he was really there, and let out a happy laugh. "What the-? You're an  _Avenger_!"

"Yeah. About that. We didn't really have a lot of time to discuss, did we, cupcake?" he slung a familiar arm around her, and she wrapped both hers around his waist. He kissed the side of her head and grinned, putting his nose to her hairline. "You look good, kid."

"I know, right?! It's been-  _months_!"

"Nearly a whole year."

"How are you? What have you been doing? Are you allowed to tell me? Are you going to do it any way? Is this- is this, Natasha?  _The,_ Natasha? Oh my god. You're a  _legend_. Nice work! Someone has to keep this old bum in line when I'm not around, and I'm glad it's you!" she stuck out her hand and shook Natasha's without removing her person from Clint. Natasha seemed to take the hero worship in her stride, smiling politely, shaking the hand back. "I'm having  _all the feels_."

"Why is this on hand?" he plucked her tazer from her pocket, cocking a brow. "Like you aren't safe enough under this roof."

"Psh, I live with Tony Stark, he upgraded it for me, like the boss he is." she flipped her hair to grin at the aforementioned technology prodigy, who preened under the compliment. "Six prongs and equal charge in one device. I nearly cried."

"Pretty." he poked the metallic lightning strike up along the side.

Tony inflated, with a casual:

"I'm arty."

They ignored him.

"Also, I hang out with a retired god of mischief. This is my life." she took the tazer back, tucking it into her back pocket. Clint had noticeably reacted to hearing who she lived with, tightening all across the shoulders and arms. She wrapped her arm tighter around him, putting her head to his shoulder. "Catching up would be good now, huh?"

He made a flat noise, and with his arm still around her, they turned to go to her room.

"Woah, where are you two going?" Tony actually started to stride forward to catch them physically.

"We're catching up. BRB." he didn't have a chance - they were marching, intent, backs turned to the rest of the world.

"Are they...?" Steve's brow came down. "Together?"

"I don't know." even Natasha was coolly surprised. She turned to survey Tony with a cocked brow - Jane was giving him a withering, lecturing look. Thor was beaming at the spy, who nodded at him in greeting. He came forward with a hand outstretched - if he had a tail it'd be wagging a hundred miles a minute.

"Hello, sister in battle."

"Thor." she took his hand and shook it twice, then relented with a sigh, and opened up the other arm.

He lifted her off the floor with enthusiasm, gruffly laughing into her shoulder.

"It is good to see you whole and well." he told her, and set her back down on the floor. "This is my lady Jane. How have you fared? Was your journey kind?"

"It was... eventful." she said her hellos to everyone in the room, lingering pointedly at Tony, who's eyes were fixed on the elevator doors Darcy and Clint had disappeared behind. "But it always is when Clint's involved."

"Tea?" Pepper offered, but only Jane, Bruce and Natasha agreed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, I'm gonna ask for some suggestions and thoughts about where this should go and how it should end.   
> What are things you like to read?   
> Have you got a cliche in mind?   
> Do you think outside the box?
> 
> Let me know!
> 
> There are a butt tonne of chapters already written and I'm sensing the end is on the horizon, but not sure where to go or how to get there. So. Thank you for reading, I'll update soon :)


	11. Chapter 11

Later that evening, when Darcy and Clint emerged, he had at some point showered and changed and she was in the hoodie he had entered the building wearing. Tony said nothing because he couldn't, grinding his teeth as he was.

"So. Human." Clint leveled a look at Loki, who glared under the archer's gaze at Darcy for imparting the information of his recent creed. She stuck her tongue out at him, completely unafraid. "Welcome to the club, pal."

"I am not a pal." Loki said through his teeth.

"How 'bout I reintroduce you to the Lewis Headlock?" Darcy shot back. "You're  _my_ pal. And it's only 'cuz you're my pal that Clint isn't going all Mission Impossible on your skinny ass, so you're welcome."

A beat.

"Pal."

Loki removed himself from the immediate vicinity of the room in quick strides, Thor following at his heels, mouth in an unhappy line.

Clint turned and offered Darcy the crook of his arm - Steve blinked at it, and at her, confused. She accepted the elbow, giggling behind her hand.

"Naw, shucks." she eyed the door where Loki had exited. "That went better than I expected."

"Hmph." he dragged her under his arm. "I told you I'd play nice, didn't I?"

"You did." she ducked out from under his arm, and skipped over to the kitchen, weaving between the immobile Tony and pinched-mouth Pepper. "Buuuuut, that doesn't mean you were gonna. Or that I'd hate you if you didn't. Hiya, Steve."

"I, uh..." he pulled her glasses from his pocket, showing her how he had popped the lens back into place. "You walked out pretty fast, earlier."

"Oh, that's where they went. Thanks!" she took them, placing them back on her nose. "These have been mine for like five years. I think it's about time I upgraded. Steve, has someone given you poptarts, yet?"

"Uh-" he straightened. "No, ma'am."

"Well, I'll have to rectify that instantly."

"I take my coffee black." Clint reminded her, pulling a chair out and perching his backside on the very edge.

"You'll take it how I give it to you." she retorted.

"Two sugars."

"I know how you like it, old man." she teased, and shut a cupboard with a strategic swing of her hip. "Strong and sweet."

"Like my ladies." He swept his eyes over the faces - Tony and Pepper in the kitchen, Steve watching Darcy from under his eye lashes, and Natasha, quietly curled up on the couch, doing much the same as he was. He winked at her, but she didn't return it.

It was mostly quiet, which was strange - he took note of the fact that Tony was rigid but twitchy, fingers drumming. Pepper was trying to drink her coffee but kept stealing glances at him. The mistake she made was trading her looks at him to looks at a happily poptart munching Darcy.

Clint snorted.

"Here ya go." said intern put poptarts on a plate and flopped gracelessly over the bench to present it to the super solider. His hoodie kept the Captain from getting an eyeful.

"Thank you." he smiled at her and accepted the plate. "What are these, exactly?"

"They're pastries with nectar from the gods in the middle." she bit into her own, humming happily. "Mmm. And frosting. Sugar over load."

"Oh. Thanks." he inspected it a little bit, then lifted it and took a bite. He chewed and Darcy watched, hopeful, until he swallowed an smiled. "Thank you, Darcy. These are nice." his next bite was significantly bigger, and although he tried to avoid looking at the strip of skin of her stomach as she stood back. He glanced at Clint with wide eyes.

The archer snorted louder.

"Yeah yeah, I'm gettin' your coffee, keep your pants on."

Captain America valiantly fought choking to death.

"What?" the young intern shot him a look. "What did you do?"

"They think we're fucking." he said with a raunchy grin. "They think we've just come back from-"

"Agent Bar- _ton_." Steve said loudly, still hitting his chest with his fist to try and dislodge the crumbs he'd inhaled.

The agent just continued to smirk.

"I like how you all think I've got enough game to pick up Darcy, though, that's nice."

"Eugh." Was all the comment Natasha made.

"But you-?" Steve cocked his head. "You and him aren't...?"

"What? Ew. No."

"Gee, thanks, cupcake." Clint said with a short roll of his eyes.

"No- you're like - my father figure, man. 'Sides." she flipped her hair, sent him a flirtatious wink. "I'm waaaay out of your league."

"So," Steve was confused. "You two aren't-? Together?"

"No." Darcy smiled at him. "We're friends. That's all."

Tony relaxed significantly, then inflated.

"So now, you're kind of expected to explain how you two know each other."

"Uh, no." the girl put her poptat on the plate and put her thumb on top of it, strolling in between both Tony and Pepper.

"Hang on." Tony sort of, skipped up to her, stood before her, stopping her quick exit. "Why not?"

"Because it's none of your business?"

"You do remember who I am, right? That my superpowers involve manipulating technology? I'll find out." he was only half kidding, a fact which was dully noted by the entire room.

"Go ahead and try." Clint shrugged, kicking one leg up over the other. "I've covered my bases."

"My lips-" Darcy made a locking motion and threw the key behind her. "-Are sealed. You don't need to know." she picked up a poptart and took a big bite.

"But-"

"Get over it, Tony." the demand cut through like a knife, and the fact she had a mouthful of food didn't soften it. "I'm not telling you."

There was a intense pause, where Tony tried to read the hard lines in her face as if it'd open up to something he could understand, like a series of 1's and 0's.

"C'mon, Darce." Clint had taken an empty cup and put his arm over her shoulders, gently steering her. "We can go watch 16 and Pregnant, or something."

* * *

"...So you just double click this little icon, okay?"

"With the mouse."

"Yup. You got it. Then gently - gently - tap the keys and spell out the word. And if nothing happens, what do you do?"

"I click the search bar."

"And if you get stuck?"

"I ask you."

"And if I'm not around?"

"I ask JARVIS."

"Huh. Guess you can teach an old dog new tricks. What'll you Google first?"

There was a long pause - a moment of hesitant tapping. Then:

"Really? 'What does Google mean'? Hey, no, fair enough. Actually, I don't know what it is either. Hey, this is what the internet is for - any questions you have are answered indiscriminately and in haste."

"This is... Really helpful, actually."

"No worries." she chose then to look up, to catch a flash of green and pale skin. "Oh, hey Loki."

Steve's head snapped around, and he flew up out of his chair into standing. Loki was lock-jawed, with his shoulders hunched. Against Barton, he'd have his hand-to-hand combat, but Steven Rogers was a strong opponent even for him in his god's body.

Darcy looked at his green t-shirt and dark jeans, and thought that she would have to take him shopping, seeing as none of his clothes fit, hanging from him loosely, in unflattering bags.

"What's the matter?" she asked him, putting her glasses up into her hair.

He was hungry, actually. He'd stayed well away from dinner, well away from Barton. He'd thought perhaps he could steal a few lonely moments by himself in the kitchen, maybe try his hand at the toaster he'd seen Jane use more than once. How hard could it be, to master the human cooking magic?

"I... was hungry." he looked down at his bare feet. The Captain's eyes scorched him like miniature suns.

"Oh, here. I'll help." she turned toward the kitchen.

"I'd really rather-" what had started out as a sharp demand cut itself short. He swallowed, lifted his head, and went on in a much easier tone. "Might I try myself, and have you... observe? In the event I..."

"Set the kitchen on fire? Yeah, sure." she pulled herself up onto the kitchen counter, turning to address Steve with a bright smile.

He meandered over to the cook wear, selecting a blue box and flavor of biscuit that his brother and Darcy seemed to eat religiously. After separating it from the silver packet, he put them in the metal cook-box, and waited patiently for something to happen.

"Uh, Loki?" she had pulled herself up on the bench next to him. Steve was rigid, watching pointedly. "You've gotta push that lever down to get things going."

He made a discontented noise and did as she bade; the machine made a click noise, and the insides glowed red. He mumbled his thanks to which she replied a chirpy welcome, and started swinging her legs.

"So, how's the castle of cards going?"

"It isn't."

"Why not?"

"...I ran out of cards."

"Oh, okay. We can get some more."

"...If you wouldn't mind. It would give me something to do."

"Yeah, I bet it would. Actually - you're a prankster, right?"

He rose a brow, turned his head to look at her.

"Notoriously." he drawled, and she grinned.

"I think that maybe I could show you something to pass the time. They're called videos on a site called YouTube, and it's basically mimicking real life on a screen."

"Like... Television. Movies."

"Yes! Exactly. The box plays." she popped down from the bench, gathering her own laptop from beside Steve. "You know what, Steve? You'd probably get some use out of YouTube as well. A lot of documentaries and stuff are on there. I'll teach you how to use it next."

"Okay." he said, and watched her go over to where Loki stood, setting up her computer.

She typed in 'Prank vs Prank', and gave a minor explanation while she found a video.

"So, there's this couple. And they prank each other all the time, film the reactions, and post them for everyone to see. Have a look at this one."

The premise of the video was that the male pretended to cut off part of the female's hair - the reaction she gave was priceless, and though Loki was very aware of Steve's watchful eye, he chuckled and couldn't help himself.

"How do I navigate this?" he tapped the pad he'd observed her using, but it did nothing.

"I'll show you. Put your finger on it and steer the little white icon around... then tap. Find a video you like." she watched him do so, and he startled when the screen changed and another video played. "There. Easy. The suggested videos are mostly others from the same channel, but some are similar from different people. Your poptarts are popped."

He hadn't even heard them. Human hearing was selective.

"Oh." he eyed them, the faint curl of smoke from behind the pastry. "Thank you."

"Welcome." she said again, brightly. "So, yeah, you use that-" she nodded to her laptop. "And just give it back whenever, okay? I'll see if maybe Tony could lend you one permanently."

"I already accept his hospitality." Loki said quietly, running his finger along the edge of the screen. "I do not think I could ask for anything more when I have nothing to offer in return."

"Well... Maybe I could make you one." she thought about that. "I've never tried, but I mean, I made the stuff Jane used to search the stars, so I don't think it could be that hard."

Loki studied her face. He tried to make sense of why she would go to such lengths.

"That would be..." he swallowed, tilting his head slightly to one side. "I wouldn't mind ... If you would like. If it were not a trouble."

"Nah, don't worry about it." she shrugged, patted his arm. "Your poptarts are getting cold." then she returned to Steve, pulling him down to sitting by the hand. Steve's eyes were lingering on the ex-villain, brow slightly drawn. He gave him a single head nod before returning his gaze to the computer, however, his attention was not completely absorbed by it.

Loki took his poptarts and his borrowed laptop, and exited the room.

* * *

 

The screen had gone black. The faint whirring noise inside the machine had sputtered and stopped. There were no lights, and no amount of tapping the mouse pad made the computer want to work. Loki had been in the middle of a miniature story - a 'movie trailer', that was the equivalent of a written blurb about an upcoming movie involving the Midgardian shark in what appeared to be a violent swirl of air.

He had only touched it lightly, not enough to break it. But perhaps it had died of more natural means. He would have to break the news to Darcy, and she would undoubtedly hate him.

He had the laptop in one hand as he knocked on her door, eyes on the contraption in the event it flickered and came back to life.

"Lady Darcy, I regret to inform you..." he looked at her, then. She was mussed from sleep - her glasses were crooked upon her face. Her shirt's collar tucked under one cup of her bra and the gratuitous spillage over the foam slice that kept her breast in place. She wore naught but that single white t-shirt and a pair of tiny shorts in the color of bottle green. He gaped.

"Oh, it died." she mumbled. "Here." she took it from him and put it somewhere inside her room - his human eyes could not perceive where it had been deposited.

He saw only the shape of her pale legs, the curve of her backside in those sinfully tiny pants. He managed to maintain his composure by the time she came back, shirt righted around her breast. She was scrubbing her eyes with her knuckles, however.

"Is that all?" she smothered a yawn behind her hand. "Got an eyeful?"

"I-..." he bit the inside of his cheek. "I did. That is no fault of mine. I am a man, and you are-... Curvaceous."

"Yeah, you're only just realizing."

"Hardly." he scoffed, and she smirked, leaning against the doorway.

"Good to know you're not totally about your good graces." she said mildly, folding arms under her bust. "It just needs a charge. You can have it in the morning. Go to sleep."

"Alright." he nodded. "I can-... Yes. It's late."

"Early." she corrected. "I'll see you later, 'kay?"

"Certainly. Good night..."

"Night." she said, and shut the door. He stared at it, blinking stupidly, for a minute, his brain registering her beautiful skin and curves. She would see him later, she wasn't angry, and the laptop was not dead in totality. Strangely, the weight that lifted off his shoulders was tremendous.

"Hey, Jack Frost. What're you doing?"

Loki turned, though he already knew Tony Stark's voice. He was in his daily wear - he had not yet gone to bed. Beside him, a little robotic creature made a squeaking noise, and hid behind Tony's calves.

"I was returning to Darcy her computer device." he said slowly, raising a brow.

"At three in the morning?"

"I did not notice the time."

"Yeah, well, you should've thought about that." he folded rather thick forearms across his middle, mouth in a thin line. "I don't like you and her alone together. Wait, let me rephrase. I don't like you."

"If you feel the need to make me verbally aware of this, perhaps you should think about how it is you've been treating me during my stay." he was the embodiment of polite, and it irritated Stark, even if he struggled to present himself as nonplussed. "I am not dull of mind, only of body."

"Yeah? Get in line, 'cuz neither am I. And you can have your cheekbones all you like, but they aren't going to last you forever." he eyed the vent above his head. "I'd be surprised if they lasted the night."

A cold coil formed in Loki's stomach, and he too, lifted his gaze to the ventilation system.

"And what is that supposed to mean?"

"It means stay away from Darcy when she isn't awake and around people who can shishkabob you if you get handsy."

"I would not." he leveled a glare at the significantly shorter man.

"Yeah, right. JARVIS said you were looking."

"I was. That does not equal my touching of her, however. She presented to me in nothing but underwear and a t-shirt twisted about her torso. Had she presented to you in such a manner, I very much doubt weather you would've been so noble-"

"I would not." Tony said through his teeth. There was a moment went Loki thought it was his honor for Pepper that made him rise to bait so quickly, but he did not think it completely true. "Darcy is a kid. She doesn't need to be screwed over by the likes of you."

"Perhaps not." Loki drawled. "Perhaps she only needs to be screwed  _under_ the likes of - "

The blow to the top of his head made his teeth clamp shut with a snap, nicking the inside of his lip enough to draw blood. He half bent, but had no time to recuperate - he was thrown into a wall, braced by a strong forearm across his throat.

Clint had always been of smaller description, but strong and fast. His eyes were bright with the heart Loki had chosen him for, teeth bared in a feral snarl.

"You speak another word about Darcy, I'll  _break your neck_." he shoved his weight up, lifting Loki clear off the floor. Tony just arched a brow, the little robot behind him spinning around in nervous circles. "That's after I pull your jaw out of your socket, after I dislocate every single finger you have, and  _after_  I cut your dick off so you can't even think about her like that, ever again."

"Touch-y." he grinned down at him with blood painting his teeth. The hold against his throat tightened to the point where he lost the ability to breathe.

Clint snapped his fist in and under Loki's diaphragm before dropping him into a heap on the floor, still silent and unable to draw breath. He was curled, one hand bracing the ground, when the robot skidded over the tips of his fingers to add insult to injury.

"You leave Darcy alone." Clint told the back of his head, setting a booted foot on an already bruised skull. "Or you die."

He pulled up into the vent again, and Tony patted his head on his way past.

"Good talk."


	12. Chapter 12

It was worse because they were all there for an attempt at movie night. The whole team was mid argument about weather or not to watch Judge Dredd vs Die Hard. They would've missed it entirely, had Tony not been monitoring Darcy out the corner of his eye.

The agent said nothing, he just went to the lounge, tossed a file down between Clint and Darcy. Clint picked it up and flipped it open, though the file didn't have his name on it.

He scowled.

"Darce?"

"Hm?" she had been eyeing off the agent, but glanced at the page. Her mouth popped open and she stared without blinking at the papers. Clint made to close the file but she snatched it from him, disappearing behind the pages.

"The hell's this?" Tony's voice was panic loud.

And because Tony had been completely ignoring what Bruce had been saying, Jane was scandalized, scolding him lightly before noticing Darcy's expression and stiffening slightly. Thor, noting this, stopped trying to explain to his brother what a cat was, further catching the trickster's eye. Natasha had been paying attention from the second the agent appeared, and the sudden silence made Steve look up from the tablet on his lap.

The Agent shifted his weight to one foot, the only indication that he was uncomfortable.

"There's been a follow up to your inquiry." was his dry explanation.

"You're got to be kidding me." was the wide-eyed, whispered retort. "It's been over a year."

"Your inquiry has been-"

"You can't do this," she whispered, flicking eyes at everyone in the room. "I've dropped it. It's said and done."

He shifted.

"Politely move to another room so I can question you."

"Question?" Clint said sharply. "That's a little strange for a follow up on an inquiry she made."

He blinked, then looked at Darcy.

"Politely move, Miss Lewis."

"I'll show you  _politely moving_!" She threw the papers at him, jumping to her feet. Clint caught her arm and yanked her back just as the Agent drew his weapon and leveled it at her forehead. Natasha had already crossed the room in three quick strides, and had a gun to the nape of the Agent's neck.

Loki didn't realize he was on his feet until he had Thor pulling at his wrist, sitting him down again. Darcy stared up at the Agent, past the barrel, completely unafraid, her teeth bared and hands fisted. There was a low hum and Tony's armor burst through the door, attaching itself around him, assembling over his body in mere seconds. He lifted his palm to the agent, who very calmly offered his gun to Clint.

The archer took it and took it apart, tossing the bullets away from him. Loki watched them skid across the floor, and wondered what the stirring was in his stomach, or why there was such an icy feeling in the tips of his ears.

"Have you ever heard of not shooting the messenger?" the agent wanted to know.

"Can't say I'm familiar with it." Clint had one hand anchoring Darcy's shirt to the couch. The papers had since settled - Tony stormed to them, eyes going over them with a mounting frown.

"The  _hell_  is  _this_?" he repeated. Darcy put her foot down on the page without looking.

"Whatever he's paying you," Clint said, far too casually. "It isn't enough." There was a knife in his hand that hadn't been drawn a moment before, balancing on it's tip, on the bone of his knee. He wasn't blinking at the Agent, who gave the situation a long once over.

"Get out." Darcy said, lowly. "You can tell him to take his little show and shove it up his-"

"That's your cue." Tony clamped a hand down on the Agent's shoulder and began to steer him forcefully away. It took a second after they had left the room for Darcy to take in a deep, shuddering breath. Her hand blindly reached for Clint, and he caught her, squeezing her fingers. She couldn't quite look at any of them as she rose, Clint's fingers loose on hers.

"Well. Uhh..." She knelt, withdrawing from them all, and started to scoop all the papers together, shuffling them into a neat pile she tapped against her knee. There were several glossy photographs; most face down, though the ones on display went from grievous bodily harm to blurry long range shots of Darcy and Clint, Darcy in her trailer, and a small Labrador puppy.

Natasha put her weapon away and watched her, before turning her gaze up to the archer. He cocked a half smile and got up, swiping a few stray pages from the floor.

Loki, who had not been invited to movie night but had been skulking in the shadows, lifted from the wall he had been leaning on to cross the room. He pulled a clean white handkerchief from his pocket and fell into a graceful crouch, holding it out to Darcy by the tip of his finger. She looked up, surprised, and but he remained quite still, offering the cloth to her without a single word.

"Darcy? The hell was that all about?" Tony just about kicked in his own door, angry red blotches in his cheeks. "Those photos-"

"Don't, Tony," she said quickly, tapping them against her knee. "They're nothing."

"Liar." Loki murmured.

She shot him a nasty stare.

"Okay,  _clearly,_  they are not nothing-"

"Then why lie?"

"They are nothing to any of  _you_."

"Liar."

"You're a liar -!" she sucked in, and held, a breath. "These photos are no one's business."

"But they are something to someone in the room." he prodded, and she shoved the barely damp hanky back at him, standing abruptly. He shook his head, raising far more slowly, so she threw it at his chest.

"You don't have to know. No one does. It's my business. Am I lying now?" she gathered herself, her pages, pressed tightly to her chest. He watched her rise, a fierce dragoness protecting her secrets, reinforced in diamonds from the inside out.

"No." he waited until she had turned. "That does not mean that you are right." he rose into standing too, well aware that every one was eyeing him with distaste - aside from Thor, who stood between the team and him like a particularly defensive sponge.

Had Thor ever truly hated him?

"How would you know?" she snapped over her shoulder, and started to storm away.

"How could I not?" was his potent scoff. "It is one thing to believe in the words you say and the things you do. It is quite another to have them be right."

There was a heavy pause.

The expression of her face weighed on him; she knew the same burden that had kept his company for so long, and that he knew for certain, without her denying it and him telling her he was not fooled.

"And the Grinch's heart grew four sizes too big." she muttered. "Merry Christmas to me." she turned on her heel, hair whipping around her, and began to storm away.

"Darcy?" Tony's fingers stretched out, as though an internal part of him reached for her.

"I gotcha, cuppy cake." Clint tucked the papers under one arm, then Darcy under the other. Clint turned as he steered her away, shooting Loki a look that might boil paint, but not a god in a man's body.

* * *

Darcy took a walk. She could've lapped the tower, could've picked one of the thirty treadmills on the premises, could've opened any of the fire exits and used the stairs.

But no. She went out, without telling any one, at some ungodly hour of the next morning.

People had their normal city bustle, rugged up and talking on phones, or listening to music, blacking out the rest of the world. Darcy had taken her iPod and was listening to angry girl music, staring blankly ahead of her and walking on and on until her feet hurt.

She only became aware of him because she thought he was a hobo. She got herself a cup of coffee, sat around for a little bit, in prime moping mode. She saw him walk past, saw him hover a little and double back, glancing in at the shop.

She finished her cup, feeling pretty miserable, and had her eyes trained on her phone, trying to map her way back to the tower, a booted foot halfway to falling, and then both feet where in the air, and she didn't even scream, just inhaled really sharply against his filthy, grubby palm.

She coughed, bucked and squirmed, but he had one diamond hard arm wrapped around her torso, trapping both arms and leaning back so her legs kicked at nothing.

"Shh." The noise was rough and soothing in her ear. "Shh, shh, shh."

An alley. She was gonna get raped and die in a fucking alley. Her tazer was in her bag, but he had no give in his grip and real fear settled into her like ice.

She screamed, but it was muffled into his palm. But all her flailing was going ignored by the masses, and even if she kicked over a bin to make more noise, no one could hear over their headphones.

"Easy." the arm around her waist tightened a fraction, the hand patting. "Easy, now."

He put his own shoulders to the alley wall, hiding them mostly behind a large dumpster. She fought and bucked and struggled, but he just weighted her head to the curve of his shoulder so she stopped trying to smash his nose with the back of her skull.

"Listen," he breathed against her cheekbone. "Please."

She sobbed. He wasn't hurting her, not at all, but her heart was banging so hard against her ribs that she wasn't entirely sure that he couldn't feel it, with his hand tucked against her side like it was. She was scared it was going to give out.

"Please." his voice rasped, and he put his mouth way, way too close to her neck. "Please. Listen."

Tears started beading at her lashes, but she tried to put her feet down on the floor to indicate she was willing to listen. He had her hoisted up so tightly that she was dangling several inches off the ground, and her hands came up to claw at the one banded around her waist like a vice, but he didn't relent.

The first tears fell.

"I'm sorry." he whispered. "I didn't know how else to ask. Who else to... I didn't know."

She made a muffled noise.

"If I let your mouth go," he said, low. "Please don't scream."

She tried to nod, and made affirmative agreeing noises in her throat.

Slowly, his hand came up, and hovered inches above her face. She sucked back air through her newly parted lips, and let out a small, involuntary sob.

"I'm sorry." he said again, hand still hovering by her mouth.

She swallowed a heavy mouthful that slid down her throat like carpet, and swung her legs.

"Put me," she breathed in, long and deep. "Down."

"Please," he bent obediently, letting her boots brush the floor. "Don't run."

She found solid ground, and exactly one eighth of her brain as grateful he held onto her, because her knees were jellyfied in their sockets. She took a second to brace her own weight, pulling at the threadbare sleeve around her waist.

"Let me go." she said, staring across at the dusty red bricks and faded band poster, the uneven mortar and heavy shadows, cast by a protective building behind her. She couldn't let it be the last thing she saw.

"I will," and it even sounded sincere. "But - please." he said, and the hand that had been on her mouth went to her waist, winding around her to pin her top half against his chest.

"Don't!" she said sharply, and his hand came up to block her noise, but she turned her face, rocking her shoulders. "Don't - I'm not screaming, okay, I'm not, give a girl a break, your hand is super gross,  **dude**!"

He didn't put his hand back over her mouth, for which she was grateful. Still squirming, she lifted a boot and brought her heel onto the top of his foot - or would've, had he not pulled her back up to his chest, making her stomp on air.

"Listen." it sounded sadder. "Please. Listen."

And she was let fall to the floor, stumble on wobbly joints, and nearly crash directly into the unsightly brick wall before her. She scraped up all her hands, and nearly knocked her glasses off her face, before she turned to see him, hands up like he fully expected her to charge at him.

She glanced at the mouth of the alley, but he made a move to come at her, so she glared at him, swiping the back of her hand over her cheeks, stopping him by lifting her tazer at his chest.

"I'm listening." she said, and hated how much her hand shook on the weapon.

He was lumberjack pretty. The eyes, she decided, framed by those long, dark lashes, impossibly wide and innocent on his face. His mouth opened and moved, and for a long second, she thought that the guy had suffered some kind of stroke.

"You know Captain Rogers?" he said slowly, like anything beyond: 'please', 'listen' and 'I'm sorry' was beyond him.

She thought about it.

A) She agrees. He uses her. B) She disagrees. She's worthless.

She settled on:

"Why?"

He swallowed, put his hands slowly down.

"I'm... I need his help." his voice cracked at the end. If he wasn't the world's most pitiful creature, Darcy would eat her glasses. "Please. Help me."

Her arm wavered.

"How do I know," she said, sounding sharper than she intended, much stronger than how she felt. "You won't hurt him?"

He faltered, his face a myriad of complex and intense emotions. Darcy tried to remember that he had partially kidnapped her, just now, and was strong enough to lift her squirming body dead off the floor without losing his breath.

Finally, he shook his head.

"I... Could. But I won't." he stared at her. "I need his help. The Tower is too well guarded and I can't... I need help. You live there. Please." he started forward, which is when the hand on the tazer tightened, and the trembling in her arm stopped.

He only took the one step forward, but her reaction was enough, and he slunk back, putting his shoulders to the wall. Something whirred in Darcy's head - a picture, a memory, her Political Science text book flipping open to page 394.

Sergeant James "Bucky" Barnes.

Howling Commando.

Ho-lee  _shit_.

His eyes were down, so he didn't see her momentary looked of abstract terror and fascination. Under the grime, scruff, and somewhere behind his hair, there was a decorated war hero, one of which Steve had been looking for, with Tony's electronic help.

"If I-" she said slowly, and the hand bracing the weapon lowered, a fraction. "If we -... You can't hurt any one."

He swallowed, anxiously twitching.

"What if they try to hurt me?" he whispered.

"They won't." feeling exactly like she'd tied herself to Mew-Mew and tossed herself out of a plane over the Bermuda triangle, she tucked her tazer back in her bag, and offered him the sweaty, shaking hand. "I'll protect you."

He blinked at her fingers for a long five seconds, and she could almost see him trying to remember what kindness was like. He put a fingerless glove out, his trembling fingers curling over her palm.

She lowered her hand, stepping closer, and gave him a very tiny smile.

"My name is Darcy." she said.

He blinked.

"James."

That was a better answer than she thought he would give.

They walked hand in hand for a very long time. He kept looking in the reflections of things, kept glancing to his sides, and when people threatened to walk too close her ducked behind Darcy and let her lead like a battering ram. She started picking up pace with nervous energy, but kept the most careful grip on his hand, the same courtesy he afforded her, even if they were nearly fused together with sweat.

JARVIS, thankfully, didn't say anything when she boarded the elevator and hit Steve's floor. Steve would be gentle, Steve would be fine, and Steve would know what to do. When the suspended metal box slowed to a stop on the communal floor, however, she preemptively stepped in front of the pretty war hero, lifting her chin.

The doors pinged open.

Tony was in his suit, Clint had an arrow trained over her head, Natasha had guns in both hands and Thor had Mew-Mew up and looked about ready to damn the inside of the tower and fling it.

"Guys." she said flatly. "Is this really how it's gonna be every time I bring a guy home?"

"Darcy-" Natasha started.

"I know what I'm doing. Where's Steve?" she cocked both brows at every assembled Avenger. "Really? Best friend comes back from the dead and you don't think to say he's on the way up? Remind me not to feed any of you, ever again. Thor, buddy, this guy's on our side. Put the hammer down."

"I was assured," Thor said thickly. "He was causing you pain to allow himself access to the tower."

"Well, here I am, totally fine. A little molested, but - Clint!" she said, as the bow sung under the extra tension Clint pulled on it. "I have my tazer. See how he's not drooling and in a pile on the floor? My choice. Put it down."

Clint did not. Thor did, moving past them to seize James up, before ultimately turning his back on the new comer and assessing his friends.

"JARVIS," Darcy said. "Please tell Steve I need him, pronto, amigo."

The tower did not verbally answer, but Steve jogged around the corner with his shield strapped to his arm and most of his uniform on, before he saw the scene and all but skidded to a halt.

"Bucky." he said, and Darcy squeezed James' fingers.

He shuffled a little closer, and she felt like he was actively trying to hide behind her. She wished, not for the first time that day, that she was bigger and stronger.

"Help me." he said, low, rough. "I can't -... I need help."

"Course." Steve dropped the shield, hip and shouldered through them all. "Course, pal. You alright?"

He didn't answer, squeezing Darcy's hand as Steve came forward, stopping just a few short strides away.

"I'm not gonna hurt anyone." he offered, sounding petulant. "I just wanted t' talk to... Captain."

"Course, Buck. Course you can." he flicked his eyes to Darcy, then back up. "I'll take you to my floor, how's that sound? You gotta let the dame go, though, cuz these people think you're gonna hurt her."

Bucky made disagreeing noises, and Darcy could tell that he was shaking his head because his hair was whipping her ears. She turned to see his face, eyes very, very blue, and focused on her without blinking.

"Steve's good." she promised.

"Come with me." he said quietly.

"No." Tony said, Iron Man animated. "You're in my tower, Schwarzenegger. You keep your hands off the girl if you want to keep them attached."

Darcy scowled at him.

"Yeah, I really appreciate how much credit everyone is giving me," she said flatly. "I bring the pretty war hero all the way home without a single hitch, and now someone loses hands and I'm just the 'dame' and the 'girl'. Cool. You all suck. Except Thor."

There was a pause, and Clint lowered his bow, easing the arrow into a relaxed position, even if he wasn't relaxed himself.

"Alright, cupcake." he said, jerking his head. "Come on out."

Slowly, Darcy stepped away from him, giving him a tiny smile as he held onto her fingers until they slipped out of his grasp from lack of reach. There was a moment where he sort of, shifted forward, like he wanted to catch her again, but he caught himself and blinked as Steve stepped into the elevator. Tony and Natasha both kept their weapons leveled at his face until the doors shut, and the whirring mechanics lifted him away.

Then Natasha turned on her.

"What were you  _thinking_?"

"I was thinking he asked me to help him talk to Steve."

"You let him play you." the woman bit out, holstering her guns. "That man is  _dangerous_."

"He's damaged." Darcy said, feeling strangely like she was going to stomp her foot. "He asked for help, and I gave it to him. Simple as that."

"You let him in to a secure facility." She said, hardening her voice. "You showed him up to Steve. How do you know that he's not going to plant a bomb, or kill -?"

"It's called an educated guess." Darcy snapped, and turned away.

"Darce." Clint said, low, but she made a vague flappy notion in the general direction of his face, and turned to look only at Thor.

"Thank  _you_ , for trusting my judgement."

He bowed his head.

"Always, milady." he said in a rumble.

Then she turned, glaring at everyone, and left the room in a huff.

She was storming through the tower, wishing the doors didn't hiss open and closed before she could slam them. There was all this energy, swarming around her, so much that she almost missed the moment when she crashed into Loki's tower of cards and slid on one, falling onto her ass and really hurting her wrist.

"Oh, really, because today couldn't get any frickin' better!" she kicked at the cards under her foot, which only served to slide away. She nursed her wrist to her chest, doubling over it, feeling hot tears spring into her eyes. "Ow."

"Are you quite alright?" the drawl wasn't entirely cold - she hadn't even realized she was basically sitting on Loki's legs until he spoke up. He was in a pair of loose grey sweats, and a loose white shirt. His short hair was curled behind his ears and he had a card pinched between his fingers, as if he was half way through placing it when she came in.

"Oh." she said, sniffed, and held her wrist. "I'm sorry, Loki, I didn't mean to - I didn't even see-!"

And Darcy had been terrified, braced, reduced to nothing but the damsel in distress, dismissed, focused on and over looked just enough times that morning alone to put her face in her free hands and start to cry to herself.

"It's -..." there was a pause. A cool hand settled on her shoulder, timid. "Quite alright. Is your hand hurting?"

She sniffled, wanted to say 'no', but it  _did_  hurt, and nodded into her hand instead of trusting her voice.

"There, there." he petted her shoulder. "I-... Is there something I could do?"

She shook her head, wiping impatiently at her face, and lifting her eyes to him, feeling pretty miserable on top of her already well honed misery.

"You know what sucks the hardest?" she said thickly. "I know what depressed looks like, I know what desperate looks like, and I know how hard it is to ask for help, and... No one trusts me, because I'm just the useless intern. Polly." she shoved her glasses up to rub her sleeve on her face.

Loki just sort of, continued petting.

"And, I mean, everyone screws up, okay? But I don't know why all these socially stunted Avengers are on my case, like... I'm the normal one, here. I had a legit childhood, and I still believe in magic. I'm not stupid. They all suck."

"The hardest." he said slowly, unsure.

She giggled.

He smile was only fleeting, a little cautious. Then she picked herself up, shuffling backwards with her hand nursed against her stomach, and dusted off the cards that had stuck to her butt.

"Good. Looks like we're friends today." she said, and sniffed, looking at the rather extensive pile of cards she'd toppled over. "Can I help rebuild?"

He hesitated, and she waited patiently.

"It's a rather... solitary pursuit." he muttered, neatening the piles of cards into stacks.

"That's okay. I can just sit here." she swallowed. "Or I can leave. Whatever."

He didn't say anything, so Darcy stayed put, and watched him sort of effortlessly pile his cards to the side, and start building his next teetering tower with the kind of patience Darcy associated with angels.

And how bad could he be, if he didn't even get angry when she crash landed into his precarious little structure?

He seemed a little tense, at first, but the rhythm and flow of building helped him ease. She kept quiet and observed, and her brain kind of buzzed pleasantly, like she could see his forethought, planning, all the lines that made up the tower. When he sorted through the cards - he liked to put them in his own order, spade, diamond, club, heart, 2 through to Jack, Queen, King, Ace - she dissected the tower in her mind, drawing lines as to where she could lift a section, and theoretically keep it's shape.

They would've been sitting for maybe an hour, when Clint wondered in.

He saw the both of them cross legged on the floor, neither bothering to look at him.

"Darcy." he said tightly. "You know they didn't mean anything by it. Cap was trying to minimize you as a hostage, so he didn't think you were important enough to hurt."

"I'm not." she said dryly.

He bristled, looking like someone had ruffled his feathers.

"C'mon, kid. He wouldn't of had to if you weren't important to us. Let's go. We can go and watch some of that stupid sexy werewolf show, if you want."

"I don't."

"C'monnnn." for a dude in his forties, he did a surprisingly good rendition of a winging toddler.

"Go away." she said. "I'm not talking to anyone who's an Avenger and not Thor."

"I didn't even do anything." he reminded her.

"You didn't back me up." she shot back, glaring.

"I didn't know what the guy was about, Darce, all I knew was JARVIS said his name and Natasha panicked. The Black Widow. Panicked." at Loki's intrigued look, he narrowed his eyes and growled: "Get back to your cards."

"Can you not?" Darcy snapped at him, inflating as well as she was able between the holding of her wrist and the fact that she was on the floor.

"No." Clint said, and jerked his head. "C'mon. We should talk."

"I wouldn't even go if I wanted to talk to you." she scowled, and fixed her eyes on Loki's hands, shifting nervously on the cards, shuffling them so that he could sort them into his order again. "Leave me alone, Clint."

"I'll leave you alone." he promised. "But you're not being left alone with him."

She glared.

"That's not your decision to make." she said flatly. "Go away."

"No."

And he perched on the edge of a couch, folding arms over his chest. He stared at the side of her head for five minutes straight, and her level of fidgeting and mounting frustration boiled under her skin. Finally, when she couldn't take it any more, she got to her feet and stomped past him, hovering at the door to watch him consider kicking over Loki's tower. She stared at him all the way out of the room, then put her nose in the air and walked in the opposite direction of him.

She'd just wanted to chill with Loki, sit there with the only person who could sympathize with her mood towards majority of the Avengers right now. But no. She was just a dumb, bubbly intern who clearly didn't know anything about anything, and didn't get to make that choice for herself.

"JARVIS?" she said.

"Yes, Miss Lewis."

"Tony in his lab?"

"No, Miss Lewis."

"Brill. I'm goin' in."

"Certainly, Miss Lewis."

She proceeded to lose herself or the rest of the day.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> BUCKYYYYY
> 
> BUCKY BUCKY BUCKY BUCKY
> 
> :D


	13. Chapter 13

"Eat." Jane slid a plate into her elbow.

"Working." Darcy mumbled.

"It's annoying, isn't it?" there was a pause. The plate knocked her funny bone, which was a certified Darcy maneuver and  _not funny_. "Eat."

"You're the worst." Darcy said.

"Oh look, a whole sentence." Jane was smiling, Darcy could hear it. "I'm getting through to her."

She blinked. The little engine in her hands was complete - she was adjusting a mantle and touch screen together on a little cube of a similar size. There were mounted wheels and what looked like a hydraulic lift, fitted with a metal plate that had two small rectangular openings she had no idea what were for.

Her stomach growled, and she put the engine down. Dum-E handed her a box of wet wipes, and she smiled for him, making his little claw spin happily.

It was just a stack of sandwiches, but they were the best sandwiches in the history of ever. Darcy came out of her head space and noticed some things:

1) Loki was cross legged under a desk, watching a laptop that displayed YouTube, on a quiet video about card tricks.

2) Jane and Thor were there, waiting for her to say something, when she felt like she had nothing to say.

3) Tony was welding something on the Iron Man suit at the very far end of the lab, and his discomfort with so many people in his space was palpable.

"Uhm." she said, and considered the sandwich. "Thanks..."

"Thirteen hours." Jane offered. "It's nearly eleven thirty. You need to get to bed."

"How's James?" she said, and swallowed her mouthful. "Steve's friend?"

"We haven't heard." Thor rumbled, nodding slowly. "But Steven insists that everything is fine, and that they need space. JARVIS has assured us all that they are alive, and well, just talking over matters of a somewhat sensitive nature."

She demolished her sandwiches, leaving one behind.

Casually, she balanced the plate in Dum-E's claw and pointed at Tony, watching the little robot solider so carefully over to the man, knocking his leg gently with the rim of the plate. Tony paused, glanced down, then up at the trio - Darcy waved, and he returned it with a two finger salute.

She exited with two Asgardians in tow. Jane promised she'd be up soon, staying behind to talk to Tony about something science-y, probably.

* * *

Life progressed almost in the same vein for three whole days.

Darcy would go down to Tony's lab if he wasn't in it. Or if she wasn't cornered by Clint.

She'd sit with Loki in the lounge on his floor and read Teen Wolf FanFiciton on her phone while he built his next grand house of cards, for as long as she could before someone 'dropped by' and she was either made leave or it was the Black Widow, in which case, Darcy all but fled.

On the third day he showed her a 'clever Midgardian mimic of actual magic', and for the life of her, she couldn't figure out how he was doing what he was doing.

Magic still really got her excited, and she hadn't realized they were just mucking around until Clint walked in to see her kind of half on top of him, trying to pull down his sleeves to see if there were cards in there. They were both laughing - well, she was, but he was chuckling, grinning widely, shaking his head: "No, no, no, Miss Lewis, a magician must keep his secrets!" - and the look he gave them both was actually really scary.

He went over, picked her up, and steered her out. Despite struggling to get his hand off of her forearm, smacking at his knuckles and physically trying to lift his fingers from her skin, he didn't stop marching them to her room, when he entered it and put himself between her and her door.

"You can't keep doing this." he told her. He looked devastated, and old.

"Doing what?" she was kind of bewildered.

"Fraternizing. With him."

She blinked at him.

"Is that what you think I'm doing?"

"I think you're being nice." he said, roughly. "I think you're a good kid, with a big heart, and I think you think you're being nice. But he - he won't know that. He'll think there is something more. If he tries anything with you, Darce-"

"Clint." she said bluntly, and put hands on her hips. "You need to back up with your daddy bullshit, okay? You're smothering me, dude."

"I am not going to let you think he's tame." he said, shaking his head. "I won't. I know what he's capable of. He's bad news."

"Alright, dangerous bad guy, I get it, but he's only human-"

"Only human doesn't mean he isn't dangerous." he said, and jerked a thumb at his chest. "I'm only human too."

"So what, I shouldn't be friends with you because you might put an arrow in my eye, is that what you're saying?"

"Yes." he said. "You shouldn't be friends with me. I got enemies that would catch you and send you back in pieces, because you're friends with me. Why do you think I had to disappear, after the  _Thing_ , Darcy? Do you think I wanted to leave? Do you think I wanted to not be there for you?"

She shut her eyes briefly.

"Clint-"

"Darce, I'm never gonna have a family. It's just a fact of my life. But I got you, kid." he clenched his teeth, and she stared at him, kind of blank. "I got you. And I won't let this guy hurt you, not even a little bit, even if you hate me. It would be better if you did."

She braced her head in her hand.

"I don't hate you." she said, sighing hard. "Jesus, Clint. I was just being nice to the guy."

"I know." he said, and leaned against her door a little heavily. "That would be the big heart I was talking about earlier."

"He just needs a chance." she said, planting both hands on her hips. "Friends. Normal stuff. I can-"

"You can." he said, nodding. "But I'd rather you didn't. I don't think he's going to heal because one human girl showed him the time of day."

She had a lot of stuff in her head. She knew Clint loved her, in his own way, knew that he looked on her like the daughter or the sister he would never have, just like she looked on him like the brother she'd never got. But he was infuriatingly stubborn.

"Just leave me alone." she said with no heat, and walked out.

She didn't even pause when she saw Loki looking after her, just walked with her eyes fixed forward. Then she ended up in Tony's lab and was at a laptop, taping the keys with bland determination. After five hours of writing the basics, and a few helpful hints and tricks from JARVIS, she plugged in her tiny robotic friend, and watched it whirr to life.

"Hello." she said, bending down to smile in the cameras. "Can you hear me, ALF?"

The creature had a squeaky wheel, and the lenses adjusted to a more comfortable spec once it rolled closer. Her Artificial Little Friend lifted tiny claws, and snapped the pincers at the end, and bobbed his little head, which made short hissing noises.

"I'm Darcy." she said, and put her hand down flat on the desk. "Would you like to meet the rest of the lab?"

Again, ALF made grabby hands at her, and rolled onto her palm. He wasn't very heavy, but his interior was complex and had taken her a long time to figure out, once she had all the elements she wanted. He looked kind of like a small TV with wheels and arms at his sides, his front and top made up of touch screens.

She petted one now, and ALF's camera eyes shuttered, making the little robot purr at the contact. She beamed. Out of everything, the coding to recognize that as a positive had been the most tricky.

"This is Dum-E." she lowered them down to go camera to camera. "Dum-E, this is ALF."

Dum-E whirled and ticked, and ALF waved one little arm. Then she showed him to U, and Butterfingers, and lifted him to her cheek to rub her nose against his top sensor, making him spew a stream of adorable robot noises, his little claw petting her cheek.

"Do I get an introduction?" Tony was in grubby jeans and what looked like a Captain America comic shirt that had clearly seen better days, peering at the boxy creature in her palm.

"Sure." she was weirdly serene. "This is ALF. ALF, this is Tony."

ALF zoomed in on Tony's face, and lifted a hand in a wave, making himself a little bit taller with the hydraulics in his neck. Darcy held him out carefully, and Tony bent to inspect him, making the little robot's eyes go big to see his face.

"ALF." he repeated.

"Artificial Little Friend." Darcy said, and nodded. "What do you think?"

Carefully, Tony lifted a finger and stroked his top sensor, making ALF's eyes go half lidded and a pleased shudder shake his boxy frame. He petted the belly, and ALF rolled onto his back, wiggling his wheels and tiny arms flat out at his sides. Darcy giggled, and ALF whistled, making Dum-E bump into her legs staring up with an almost petulant whine.

"This is good work, Polly." Tony's smile was small, but there was a heavy warmth in his eyes that she felt weigh around her like a physical touch. "Now I hope you know all the other boys are going to want touch screens."

"Yeah, sorry. He's just, too cute. I needed him to know that I appreciated things." in addition to Tony's petting of the robot's belly, she touched his head, and he made a noise like a sigh.

"Show me the code," Tony said mildly. "For the positive reinforcement thing."

"JARVIS," she said, looking up. "Throw it up."

"With pleasure, Miss Lewis." he said, amused. "Might I add that ALF is functioning to his full potential. It is a very impressive first effort, and if I could manage pride I'd be rather proud."

One of ALF's camera eyes opened a fraction.

"That's JARVIS." Darcy told him, and smiled wide. "He's your dad."

Tony snorted.

"Good evening, young ALF." JARVIS said, very formally.

ALF waved at the roof.

Tony read her coding, poking the hologram while Darcy nursed ALF to her chest and continued rubbing his little presented belly. He hummed, wheels turning in a slow rotation, little claws clicking.

"This is good, Darcy, really good." Tony said, scrolling through the script. "Mind if I use it?"

"Use it?" she repeated. "Don't you wanna alter it, a little?"

"It doesn't need altering." he said, rubbing his chin. "I'm not kidding. It's good."

She looked down at Dum-E, who's claw was pointed down in a sulk, and imagined how much more helpful he could be if he learned through the process of touch-based rewards what he could and couldn't do. She said as much to Tony, who cracked a grin.

"You're not wrong." he said, and flopped into a discarded wheelie chair. "So. Can I?"

"Yeah, like I'm gonna say no." she scoffed. "You were the one who helped me start on him in the first place, and I wouldn't have thought of half the design if I didn't have U or Dum-E for references. JARVIS helped with the coding and programming, so he's the daddy, but you're kind of like his dad, so... You're the grandfather." she held up ALF, smiling into his lens.

"Look, it's grandpa Tony!"

"Please don't get pregnant." Tony muttered, tapping at the keys. "Make as many robot babies as you want. But don't get really pregnant."

"No promises, Steve's lookin' pretty patriotic these days." she joked, but he nearly fell off his chair.

* * *

In the grand scheme of things, she should've seen it coming. The whole, you know. Everything is good, and suddenly everything sucks, thing. It wasn't like it didn't happen to her all the time. The problem with this time around was that everything had gotten so good, she kind of forgot to anticipate the bad.

And living with superheros had a sneaky way of making a girl feel infallible.

* * *

Steve did eventually show his face on the communal floor, but his pretty friend didn't. They all knew he was up there, but didn't mention it. He was like a dirty secret, and it was genuinely upsetting.

It had been a week since ALF was switched on for the first time and Darcy had to leave him on his charging pad for a few hours to give him a little juice. He was like a toddler - he was still learning so much that he processed and filed hundreds of things in an hour, having to go as fast as his wheels could take him to every destination, so that regular naps were a thing he needed.

Dum-E was absolutely in love with the little bot, following after him and picking him up when he toppled over, hovering when Darcy needed to leave the room, or got in a head space. She heard JARVIS talking to ALF, in low, pleased tones, explaining things to him like why humans needed to evacuate in the bowl and why humans had power sources they needed to chew on.

She hadn't spoken to, or seen, Loki, not for a whole week. And it made her feel like the worst kind of person, but the fact that Clint was finally able to relax soothed that particular burn.

One morning, forgoing sleep once again, she found Steve in the kitchen on their communal floor, when he had a perfectly good one on his own.

"Hey, Cap." she said through a yawn.

He smiled at her.

"Good morning, Darcy. Why're you up so early?"

She would've liked to have told him her bad dreams were coming thick and fast these days, but smiled instead.

"Could ask you the same thing." she pulled up onto the seat next to him. "How's James?"

He put his eyes down on the glass of water between his interlocked hands.

"Better." he said. "Thank you."

"For what?"

"Asking." he shrugged one unfairly huge shoulder. "I keep trying to look for places to rent, but every time I set up an appointment or go to make a call, something interferes."

"Work?" she said, but he shook his head.

"I think Tony's got JARVIS under orders to keep me here." he said, sighing. "I don't want to impose, but every time I try'n bring it up I get shot down."

"Do you want to leave?" she asked him.

"I want to help my friend." was his reply. "But it won't help when he feels locked up in the tower. Natasha's nervous about him, Clint is always on her side regardless. Tony won't listen to me when I say we gotta move."

She nodded, then bumped his shoulder with hers.

"Can I go and say hi?"

He stared at her.

"Darcy, you do know who he is, don't you?" at her cocked brow, he realized. "You know exactly who he is. You still want to talk to him?"

"Yes, I do. Not like, right now-" she motioned to her jammies and mess of hair. "But yeah. Maybe if he makes a friend he can come down, and the team will just have to get over themselves."

He quirked a sad smile for her.

"Don't get me wrong, I appreciate the thought. But it didn't seem to work so good for Loki."

She flinched at the name.

"That's... Complicated."

"Bet it ain't as complicated as him comin' back from the dead, seventy years in the future, with busted memories and metal arm."

"No, but it is complicated that he did, at one stage, just try and take over the world and kill everyone."

"Point." Steve said, sighing. "S'not like I think he'd do you any harm, doll, honest. If I did I wouldn't have him with me."

"You better stop hanging around him so much," Darcy mused. "Your Brooklyn is showing."

He smiled, looked down, staring at the glass dwarfed by his hands.

There was a pause, and within the general vicinity of a superhero, Darcy felt at ease, sleepy. Lulled by the aura of heat from Captain America's mattress sized chest and tree trunk arms, she put her arms up on the counter and her head down on them.

"I-" she said, then paused. "I wanted to be Loki's friend. Wanted to help. But... I'm clearly just a useless intern and I got told I wasn't allowed."

Steve looked at her, studying.

"You're not useless, Darcy." he told her firmly.

"Tell that to Clint."

Realization dawned on him.

"Loki hurt him. Hurt him in ways that I really don't think any of us can understand. Well. Maybe Buck could." his eyes went up, and he looked tired. For someone with the general ability not to get tired, it made her sad. "Had his brain wiped more times than he knows. All of him taken out and somethin' else put in. He's - not broke, but... I don't know how to help him. I ain't never had it done to me, and all the studies are hypothetical."

Darcy, thinking on more than one level at all times, sat up slightly, honing in on Steve. He turned to her, watched her eyes narrow, the pull in her brows, all the thoughts swirling and churning and becoming a scheme behind her eyes. He blinked.

"You know," he said slowly. "If I gotta stop hangin' 'round Bucky cause my Brooklyn's showing, you gotta stop hangin' 'round Tony. I know that face. That's a Stark face."

She smirked.

It was only mildly worrying she looked exactly like their resident mechanic.

"Solutions." she said, nodding. "I have them. My main problem is that I want to be friends with Loki. He can't progress by himself, can't have opportunities to do anything if all he does is magic tricks in front of his laptop. No one else is interested in trying with him - or able to - aside from Thor, but a lot of Loki's hurt is based on his brother, so he's gotta start healing before he can take over. I can't help, because Clint won't put up with it, right?"

"Right."

"Your main problem is most people are pretty nervous about James, Natasha mostly, but Clint's all the way behind her. Everyone is super suss about the metal arm and the literal history of violence and such. You don't get his head-wiping and by the look of things, Steve, I'd say you're getting pretty upset about it."

He looked at the glass.

"Right."

"So. If we make Clint and James friends, they could get their PTSD on. And then I could be friends with Loki and try and help him."

Steve let that thought tick over.

"Make Clint and Bucky friends... so you can sneak around with Loki?"

"More or less."

He shrugged.

"I'd have to talk to Buck about it. But it's not without merit - it's actually a pretty good idea." he wet his lip. "Problem is the rest of the team. Natasha, Tony... they're both protective. Natasha of me, Tony of you."

"Thor." she said. "And Jane. JARVIS. And maybe Bruce. I don't know, I'll figure out Bruce. If we keep Tony minimally distracted, he won't notice my absence without Clint or JARVIS in his ear. Thor is gonna be in it for Loki's well-being, and Natasha... You're bros, you deal with her."

"I can do that." he looked at her then, really looked at her. The pile of tangled curls, the sleep wear all rumpled, and the brightness of her eyes. "It's a little bit sneaky, though. We shouldn't be doin' this to the team."

"The team shouldn't have started governing who we can be friends with." she retorted, and huffed, rubbing her eyes. "Sorry. I'm snappy. I'm not snappy at you, just... Clint made me feel so guilty, about it. He gave me an ultimatum. And I love him and he's like, my father figure, brother, you know, but he shouldn't have that much control over me, okay?"

"No, he shouldn't. Can't say I blame him - it makes me nervous too - but Darcy, Loki hasn't done anything but hide out and watch YouTube videos, and it's only because you showed him how. I know a thing or two about redemption and... you're right. If he ain't got opportunities..." he looked at his glass, took a long pull.

"I'll come up and say hi regardless." she promised him, patting his watermelon sized bicep in what she hoped was a reassuring way and not a grabby way. "Just... You talk to Clint first. And I'll work with JARVIS. They're spies, I'm sure they'll get it if they find out."

"When." Steve said. "When, they find out."

"Psh." she flapped a hand at him. "What's the worst that could happen?"


	14. Chapter 14

She monitored Clint and Steve speaking together, watched Clint get a bit shifty about telling Natasha. Then Steve and his Disney Princess eyes dropped the 'Bucky basically got what you got' card, and Clint was in the elevator, going up to see the pretty war hero.

Darcy took her chance, finding Loki in his room, knocking loudly and quickly until he yanked open the door.

"What-?"

But she pushed inside before she even saw his face, so nervous that someone would be just around the corner, ready to interfere. She was mostly worried about Natasha, and really hoped Thor would be subtle about keeping an eye on her.

"I'm not entirely sure how much time we get," she said quickly, blind in the darkness of the room. "But what I want to preface this conversation with is I'm sorry I haven't been around, and I genuinely want to hang out with you some more, and I've organized Clint away and Natasha to be observed and Tony to be distracted so they won't interfere, and -"

The light clicked on.

"What happened to your _face_?" she said shrilly, and stared, wide eyed, at the mottled black and blue bruising under one eye, the busted lip, and way he held his arm to his chest. "Loki!"

It took him a second, but he swallowed, and put his eyes down, limping to the bed to take a seat.

"You've distracted them properly?" he asked lightly.

She felt a cold stone drop into her gut.

"Who did this to you?" she whispered.

"Tell me how," he said patiently. "How you've their full attention?"

Quickly, she did, mentioning JARVIS and Steve and Thor and Jane on their side. He listened, nodded, and eased up onto his pillows, sighing slightly.

"Loki, who-?" she said desperately, but wasn't entirely sure she wanted to know.

"It's alright." he said softly. "I went out looking for you. I didn't notice the hour - it was late. There were... assumptions, that my seeking you out at such an hour was for - inappropriate reasons."

She sat on the end of his bed, blinking hugely.

"Is that why I haven't seen you around?" she said quietly. "I wanted to explain. I thought if we accidentally ran into each other, maybe I could. But you weren't around."

"I've retreated to this room." he said, every inch of his bruised face solemn. "I've been warned time and time again to stay away from you. So I'm staying away."

She looked at her hands.

"I didn't know..." she said weakly. "That they were hurting you."

"Don't dwell on it. I've had worse." he nudged her knee with his foot, gave her a tiny smirk when she looked up at him. "Would you like to see a magic trick?"

She blinked. Could feel tears in her eyes.

"Is it, 'look, this is all a horrible joke and your friends aren't actually assholes who beat me up in their spare time'? Because that's my favorite trick. Do that one."

His smile went away. He stared at her for a long second, saw the tears pooling and rolling over her cheeks. He went soft, his every tight line slackening, arms going up and out.

"I am quite alright." he said quietly.

"You look like hell."

He cocked his head.

"Actually, she looks like me."

Her mythology caught up with her, and she managed a tiny giggle. But the giggle turned into something else, and she tried to stop the tears from happening but it just wouldn't stop. These people were supposed to be superheros. They were supposed to be good.

She hadn't realized how much faith she had in everyone until it was shattered.

"Darcy?" a gentle hand weighed on her shoulder. She felt him sitting next to her, not actually touching but very close. "May I-?"

She turned and wrapped arms around him, mindful of where he appeared to be hurting. For a long second, he only had one hand on her, very platonic. Then his other arm wound around her and he sagged into it, leaning on her, making her tighten around him like she was the only strength he had in his bones.

Her face was mashed against his shoulder and his head was down on hers, breathing long and deep, a shudder shaking through his spine. He squeezed and she squeezed back, sniffling, wiping her tears on his shirt.

And they stayed like that, all wrapped up and hugging, for at least a half an hour. Before JARVIS gently interrupted to say that, for the day, Clint was saying goodbye to his new friend.

"However," the AI paused. "They have made plans for tomorrow."

"Good." Darcy said thickly. She was no longer crying but she felt puffy and snotty and gross, and very much like she really didn't want to make herself leave.

"You can go." Loki said, patting her hair down her shoulder. "I will see you tomorrow."

"I don't want to go. This sucks."

"The hardest, yes." he smiled, levered back away from her.

She saw his bruises and his lip and nearly cried again, reaching up to touch his face gently.

"Oh, Loki." she said, miserable. "I can't believe this. I can't - I don't want to."

He took her fingers, kissed the tips, then the top of her forehead. It felt brotherly - the same way Thor sometimes reached over and gave her a kiss on the head or on the cheek. It was a casual Asgardian expression of adoration; one of her favorite things in the world.

"You are a good, kind woman." he said, and smiled slightly. "Believe what you will. I'll be fine."

"But this isn't fine. I hate that they've hurt you. I hate what people have put you through. I hate that your former king is such a bastard and I don't care if that gatekeeper motherfucker is watching, he can pass it along," she glared at the roof. "Darcy Lewis hates the king of Asgard and knows that this is  _all his fault_."

"Darcy." he chided lightly.

"No, it is. If he were an actual parent who parented, you wouldn't have been so bitter in the first place. Thor wouldn't have been the arrogant asshole he was. If Odin had've occasionally got off his throne and made an effort, you, him... Would've been a different story." she looked at him. "And Heimlinch can pass that along."

"Heimdall." he said quietly.

"Whatever." she said, and sniffed, wiping her eyes. "I'm coming back tomorrow, okay. And I'm bringing cupcakes."

"I've not had the pleasure. But 'cakes' I recognize." he seemed to glow. "I do have a sweet tooth."

"All the sweet things. You got it." she got up, and he stood with her, taking her face and giving her another kiss on the head. She wrapped arms around his torso and gave him a quick squeeze. "God, I've hugged you for so long, and it's still not enough."

"No." he said into her hair. "I didn't think so, either."

She attempted to bury into his chest, inadvertently tickling under his arm and making him bark a laugh, stepping back and bracing the area.

"Ooh, ticklish, are you?" she grinned.

"Don't use it against me." he said, and pointed at her. "I'm sure you've a soft spot or two I can exploit and don't think I won't."

"Me?" she gave him her innocent face. He wasn't fooled. "Never."

"I'm sure." he pointed to the door. "Begone with you before you're discovered. I shudder to think what would be assumed were you caught leaving my room."

Her smile fell. Her mood went south. He noticed, and tilted his head.

"Darcy, please. Don't feel things so fully."

"I do what I want." she retorted.

"You're only going to end up hurting in ways that cannot be easily cured. And I would know."

She pointed at him.

"Cupcakes tomorrow. Be prepared."

"Don't attempt to distract me with sugar. I'm..." his brow pulled together. "You an I... We feel. Hold grudges. Our hurt echoes longer than the wound. These things - are not easily mended, they never are."

"No, not easily." she agreed. "But it can be done. And we're going to fix you. Now, be ready for cupcakes, I'll see you tomorrow, bye."

Before he could protest, she literally skipped out of the room, shutting the door quickly behind her. She went to her room before anyone could see her gross post-cry face, and waited out the puffiness with a shower and change of clothes.

Then, determined, she set off to the kitchen, banging around until she got the cupcakes going. She had to settle for chocolate or vanilla at the time, left JARVIS in charge while they baked. Without mentioning it to any one (because it ended so well the first time) she left the tower, collected various supplies, and headed back.

The cupcakes were done and with all her new goodies, she was able to make a red velvet concoction and decorate the others in the mean time.

"Oh."

She looked up.

Pepper Potts was in a loose white shirt and jogging pants, feet bare on the tiled floor. Her hair was in a high pony tail, swinging slightly, and she wasn't wearing make up but she didn't have to.

"Hi." Darcy said. "Cupcake?"

"No, Pepper." the CEO said, very casually.

Darcy laughed, loudly.

The woman smiled slightly, then padded over, hopping up onto the chair parked at the counter. She inspected the cupcakes in the oven, the mess of supplies and used dishes, then the artful flowers and polka dots iced onto the chocolate ones.

"Has anyone ever told you you've got a particular thinking face?" she mused.

"Yeah, Steve mentioned that I should stop hanging out with Tony. Apparently the Stark Eureka face has worn off on me." she scowled.

"That one too." Pepper said quietly, smiling. "How many cupcakes have you just made?"

"Thirty six." Darcy said evenly.

There was a pause.

"Is there an army you're feeding that I don't know about?"

"Well," she turned her eyes back to her work. "Thor could probably demolish these by himself, godly metabolism, waah. I've made the mistake of introducing pop tarts to Steve - Steve to pop tarts, whatever - and now there's never enough in the cupboard, and I'm sorry, but your boy-man-friend? Pre-made food works best. So. Thirty six cupcakes isn't that much, really."

Pepper nodded, looking over the batches.

"These look... beautiful."

"Thanks." she didn't want to mention that she used to bake with her mother, before she went off the wagon and turned into a raging and violent addict who got better at cooking heroin than dinner. "You want one? Chocolate, vanilla, red velvet?"

Pepper bit her lip.

"I would like a red velvet, when they're ready."

"Sure." she went back to piping, little white dots on a mint green icing. "What's your colors?"

"My colors?" One slender brow went up. "What do you have?"

"All of the colors. I don't skimp on cupcake decorating." She smiled, mostly at the cupcake. "I'll pick the best one and put it in your colors so I know what's what."

"I see." there was a pause, while the plastic bag rustled. "I'll have white and orange, please."

"You got it." she said cheerfully, and wasn't entirely sure why Pepper went so still and quiet after that, only that she did, watching Darcy with the very ghost of a smile on her face. When she next paid attention, the CEO was gone, so Darcy took the best red velvet cup cake and did a white base with orange stripes, getting JARVIS to send ALF up.

"Hiya, buddy." she cooed, kneeling to rub his sensor. He keened, made happy noises. "You know Pepper?"

He nodded, hydraulics whirring.

"Can you give her something for me, please?"

Again, he nodded, whistling his agreeance.

Carefully, she balanced a plate and cupcake in his little claws. JARVIS would open doors for him and organize the elevator so his decent into the lab would be flawless, so she wasn't worried as he scooted off, whistling a tune that sounded suspiciously like Thunderstruck.

She decorated the rest of the cupcakes - doing three of each for Loki, separating them from the pack on their own plates. With twenty six left, she figured, no one's gonna wait for Bucky and Steve, so she separated another two each and left eighteen on the table.

The ones for Loki went in her personal kitchen so no one could eat them by accident. Then she took a trip up to Steve's floor and was surprised at how empty the place was when she got up there.

Like Tony and Thor, Steve had his own space. He used to live on the residential floor with the rest of the team, but since Bucky had moved in, they'd acquired the space. The'd been there for ages, so she wasn't sure what she was expecting two soldiers from the forties to decorate, only that she had expected more than nothing.

"Guys?" she said, poking her head out of the elevator.

Steve wondered in, saw her, smiled.

"Heya Darcy. How are you?"

"I'm doing okay. You?"

"Just fine." he looked at the cupcakes, broke into a grin, then looked up at her.

"How'd the thing go?" she asked, stepping out of the elevator.

"Really good. Buck got a bit... overwhelmed, so Clint's comin' back tomorrow."

"Is it okay that I'm here?" she said, blinking. "I can leave if I'm not wanted."

"There isn't enough brain-washing in the world that'd make a fella not want you." came a drawl, and Darcy very nearly dropped the plate.

First of all, the pretty grubby war hero thing had done it for her. She'd had one or two sexy thoughts about his stubble and hobo hair combination and how their initial meet in the alley could've gone very differently, not gonna lie. Secondly, fresh-out-the-shower-damp, wet hair in a bun Bucky?

_Mmph._

"Holy shit, you clean up so good." she said. It had been meant as a thought. She lifted the plate. "Want?"

His grin was slow, a little dirty. She could feel her panties saying what a good idea it was to throw them at his face.

"Sure. I'll put the kettle on. Stay a while?"

"I put a lot of effort into these. I want to see them appreciated."

He took the plate, grinning, flicking his eyes at Steve's arched brow.

"You got it, doll." he said, and wondered off. If her eyes were glued to the seat of his pants the entire way, that was her business.

"Preeeeeeeeeetty." she said, and dreamily looked at Steve. "Don't get me wrong, the blonde bulgy thing is nice dude, but holy shit. How can he do the bangable hobo thing and the blisteringly hot clean thing? Not fair. Not fair, Steve. Like, I'm a Poli-Sc girl, Steve, I've seen his pictures and yeah, out of the Commandos he's number one one the to-hit-it-list, and anyone who paid attention in history knows that he was a super player with the ladies, but I didn't realize why until right now because  _ho-lee shit_. Steve. He's like - I can't even - Steve, his  _jaw_ , and his _lips_ , and the size of his  _waist_ , how does he even-?  _Help_."

"Darcy, as much as I'm enjoying this," he tapped his earlobe. "Super soldiers have super hearing. There is literally no way he has not just heard every bit of what you just said."

That, took a moment to sink in.

"James?" she said, in the level of voice she'd been using.

"Yup?" She could hear him grinning, goddammit.

"I take my tea white with two, please. And enough bourbon to forget everything wouldn't go astray."

There was laughter.

"Steve won't keep alcohol in the house." he hollered back. "But we got tea."

She blinked helplessly at Steve who had one big hand over his mouth but couldn't hide the laughter.

"Why don't you keep alcohol in the house?" she said. "How am I supposed to drown my sorrows?"

"Isn't that what the cupcakes are for?" he mused, and patted her shoulder. "Come on. We won't tease."

"You're a liar. I appreciate it." she said, and kept her eyes down upon entering the kitchen. She put the plate on the table and struggled to sit on the tall chair at the counter. "So. Met up with Loki. Someone beat him up recently."

Steve shot a look at her.

"What?"

She nodded, biting her lip.

"I couldn't even talk to him. I could hardly look at him. All I could do was hug him and try and shoulder some of whatever he was feeling. He's bruised, got a cut on his lip, he was limping, holding his arm all sore... I don't know who it was. I think I do. But I don't want to know. Not really." she winced. "Apparently, he wanted to come see me? In the middle of the night. And - he didn't realize, but it came off as you know. Suss. And someone... Someones... Hurt him."

Steve was frowning. Bucky was quietly making tea, no expression on his face.

"He didn't say who?"

She shook her head.

"It's three. Two more likely than the other."

"Wasn't the Widow." Bucky offered, handing her the tea with a metal hand. His eyes were intense. "She wouldn'ta left marks."

She put her eyes down.

"It wasn't Thor." she said. "And Bruce wouldn't - couldn't - not without Hulking out. And we'd know if he had. It wasn't you guys."

"Tony has been acting strangely." Steve admitted. "Even for him, it's different. He's protective of you."

"Halfa what Clint had to say to me today was about Darcy, his cuppy cake." Bucky said, leaning on the counter on his forearms. "I reckon if he thought something was up, he wouldn't be able to, you know. Think. Definitely not stop. And a guy with hands like that? Knows a thing or two about layin' into someone. Stark wouldn't."

"Tony's got a history of makin' weapons, Buck." Steve said quietly. "He wouldn't have to lift a hand."

Darcy stared miserably into her tea.

"Vanilla, chocolate and red velvet." she mumbled. "They're color coordinated, so share."

"Thanks, Darce." Steve said quietly.

They inhaled their cupcakes before Darcy even lifted her head again. When she saw they were gone, she laughed, couldn't help it. Bucky had a smirk for her, sucking on his thumb, and Steve was attempting to peel off crumbs from the paper to eat those, too.

"I can make more, you know." she said, her amusement hollow.

"Please do." Bucky said.

For a while, they talked about cupcakes, about what cupcakes Darcy could make, and general memories from their collective childhoods that involved baked goods. It was on the tip of Darcy's tongue, to bring up Clint and how long they could keep him occupied, when the elevator dinged open.

"Lotta visitors today." Bucky muttered. "Don't mind the pretty ones so much, but could the rest of 'em go away?"

Darcy blushed, looked down at her tea. Steve went to meet them, but Tony steamrolled around the corner with his strut.

"Astro-boy, Polly." he sat next to Darcy on the counter. "I ate Pepper's cupcake."

"That's not something you should tell everyone." Darcy muttered, not able to look at him.

He chuckled, bumped her shoulder with his.

"She said you made it. And then I went to find some more. And Clint and Thor had about six of them crammed into their faces."

"So?"

"So, make more. I'll pay you."

"I'm out of gas for cupcakes." she said dully, getting up to wash her mug. She took Bucky's and washed that too, to give her hands something to do and eyes something to focus on. "Maybe tomorrow."

"But it was good." he said. "And I want more."

"Not today, Tony." she had meant it to sound casual, like her cupcake genius couldn't be summoned at will. But it sounded flat and dull, and exactly like the underlying attack she wanted to throw at him.

There was a pause.

Darcy looked around for Steve's mug, which Bucky passed to her. Their hands touched, and she caught his eye, the small twitch of his jaw, and slow smile he gave her. Tony cleared his throat.

"So I programmed your positive reinforcement code into Dum-E's system." she put her eyes down and washed the mug. "He's responding pretty well. I was gonna do Butterfingers next but real life, you know. Got in the way."

She dried the dishes and hummed non-committedly, opening doors and drawers until she could put the mugs away. She wished someone, any one, would say something, so that the silence wasn't so loud. And then Tony did.

"Did you wanna come down to the lab and give an old man a hand?"

"Huh?" she looked at him, bug-eyed, blinking repeatedly.

"I don't have time, but you know. One gets the fancy upgrade, they all get the fancy upgrade. And as much as I'd like to install sensors into my robots and make everyone stop sulking, I don't have time. You did it, so I know you're good. And it's your code anyway. So. Yeah." he stared at her for a long second. "I can pay you if you want-"

"I don't." she could feel it bubbling. All the words she didn't want to say, like:  _If I find out you hurt Loki, I'll swear some lengthy Asgardian curse on your tower or something equally dramatic_ , but what she said was: "You can't just pay people to do what you want, sometimes, you know that?"

And it came out  _sharp_.

He deflated, looked hurt.

And she lost it, lost the anger that should've made it feel good, and opened her mouth to apologize, but somehow the message got lost between brain and mouth because what came out was:

"I'm -... Bleeding. From my vagina. And now I'm leaving."

And she ran.


	15. Chapter 15

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh noes, Darcy... :(

She had thought that, maybe the nightmares were easing up. They'd certainly become a regular fixture in her life, certainly evened into hum-drum sweaty sheets, headaches for hours, bitten lips and panted breaths in the middle of the night.

But this one was worse, somehow. This one  _got_  her. And it might've been the stress of the day, might've been the terrible mood she'd been in, or the way she'd removed herself from people for the evening, but this nightmare...

Wasn't good.

She was screaming, roaring, when she woke up. And Thor kicked in the door and sent it flying across the room and out the opposite window, but she wasn't - wasn't awake. Still caught up, she thought she saw... something else.

Something that wasn't a friend.

She scrambled, falling, smashing her lamp in the process. The shards of glass didn't even register in her brain, even if they pierced her feet and bled profusely.

"NO NO, DON'T YOU TOUCH ME!" she ran, slammed the bathroom, curled into a ball in the tub, eyeing the locked door. "LEAVE ME ALONE!"

"Darcy! Darcy, baby, it's me, it's me, I'm gonna open the door-"

Clint. Clint should've registered in her brain, but behind the door, it didn't make sense. It was a trick! A trap! Some kind of high tech lie!

"LEAVE ME ALONE, LEAVE ME ALONE!"

When the door cracked open, just a slice, she launched a full bottle of shampoo at it and it thunked shut again, fruity splatter dripping thickly off the frame and handle.

Breathing hard, scared out of her mind, she got up, slammed her whole weight against it, wet feet slipping on the floor. She hurt her knee on the way down, could barely see through sweat and tears and sticky hair wrapped around her face. She saw the blood and panicked - heard the clunking above her head. Knew they'd come in through the roof anyway.

So she picked herself up, ripped open the door just as the vent in the bathroom swung open, and she bolted. Bolted past the people who reached out and tried to stop her, twisting past the people in the door. And she ran - ran so fast she skidded in the wet on her feet and toppled, clumsily bouncing off a wall and scrambling back up, running to the stairs.

She ran up, winding, winding, and banged open a door, flying past more doors and into the kitchen - THE KITCHEN OH GOD NO - where her panic increased and she grabbed a knife, the biggest one she could find, and she waited, because he was coming, coming for her, and yes, in the kitchen, that's where -

The lights clicked on, and someone golden was staring, hands lifted. She pointed the knife at him.

"I KNOW YOU THINK I'M STUPID." she bellowed. "I KNOW YOU THINK I DON'T KNOW WHAT THE FUCK YOU'RE DOING, BUT I KNOW I KNOW WHAT YOU'RE DOING, AND IF YOU THINK YOU'RE GONNA HURT ME-" she choked, she was so scared.

"Darcy-"

"IF YOU THINK YOU'RE GONNA HURT ME AGAIN, I'LL FUCKING KILL YOU, DO YOU HEAR ME? I'LL FUCKING KILL YOU,  _I'LL KILL YOU,_  STAY THE FUCK AWAY FROM ME!"

When he didn't move, didn't move away, she opened the doors behind her head and threw something at him. She was screaming, telling him to go away, leave her alone, he wasn't going to hurt her, not again, not ever again, he was a fucking maggot, he was a fucking bastard, he'd never, never get a chance again-

And then the man with the light was there.

She recognized it. The light in his chest. In his heart. A hero.

She caught her breath.

" _I know you_." she whispered.

"Sure you do. I'm here. I'm right here." his hands were up. He came a little closer. "What's with the knife?"

"Not gonna hurt me." she told him, raspy, sore from screaming. "Not gonna - Tony, you won't let him-?"

"Never. No one's gonna hurt you, kiddo, never again. Gimme the knife, honey."

"I'm not gonna let him." her hand tightened on it. "I'm not gonna let him, not again, never, never, I can't, not again. I'm not gonna let him. He won't hurt you, either, I'm gonna  _fucking kill him_ -"

"It's alright," he said, and went to his knees, just out of reach. "He won't. We're together, okay? You and me. And no one's gonna hurt you. Gimme the knife."

She could see - shadows. Shadows everywhere. Pretty blue eyes and concern in the golden man. She could see a tiny woman clinging to the ripped hobo and then there was the guy with the shiny arm. She pushed back on slippery wet tiles, making an unsure noise in her throat, training the knife on the last one, the littler one. He was the one who came in through her roof. He was  _tricky_.

"It's alright," Tony was saying. "You're dreaming. It's a dream."

"Why won't they go away?" she asked, weakly. "Why can't I make them leave me alone?"

"I don't know." he said, and crawled closer. "C'mon, sweetheart, drop the knife. Come give this old man a hug."

"I-" she pointed the knife at the light in his chest. He was close enough that it made a  _ping!_ noise. "Know - I know - I'm not stupid, I know what he's planning to do - he's - Tony - please, please, help me."

"Anything you want, baby girl." Tony promised her. "Anything you need. Just gimme the knife."

His hand slowly came up, slowly touched her hand, wrapped around her wrist. The other one came up, managed to dislodge her fingers from the handle, carefully extract it from her hand. He put it beside him on the floor, and slid it back, far away.

"Tony-" she said, broken. "Tony,  _why_?"

"We don't need that." he told her, and shuffled a little closer, wiping sweaty hair away from her head.

"I need it." she whispered, betrayed. "He's gonna kill  _me_ , now."

"No." he said, and it sounded good, the kind of promise that was strong, that could hold under pressure, and go the distance. Maybe that was why she started waking up. "I'm here. Nothing is going to happen."

She was shaking hard.

"Tony," she opened both arms for him. "Help me."

He sat beside her and put an arm around her shoulders, and she attempted to sink into him and wear him like his own armor - and the way he eased against her, and hugged her tight, that made her think that he wouldn't mind it either. He held her head and rubbed her arm and within about three seconds, she flinched.

"Ow." she croaked, and curled into a ball. "Ow, my feet."

She focused. Bucky, Steve. Jane, Thor. Clint. Natasha was peering over the counter at them, but Darcy hadn't even seen her before. She could barely remember the nightmare, could barely remember what she'd done. Like most of the nightmares she usually had, she was sweaty and her throat hurt, but she was not in bed, and she was hugging Iron Man.

"What..." she whispered, and lifted her head. "What the hell did I do now?"

"Well, fuck if I don't know that feeling." Bucky said, and sauntered forward, crouching. "You tore through here like a bat outta hell, threatened to kill Captain America, and stood on something sharp, is my guess. How do you feel?"

She blinked, looked around.

"Like..." she put a hand to her throat, which was hoarse. "A bag off assholes, actually." she coughed.

"Hey, biceps," Tony said, directing it at Thor. "Make yourself useful, would you? I got a medikit in my lab. Let's go, princess."

* * *

Clint followed like a solid and silent shadow, and Darcy was glad. She made her apologies to everyone and allowed herself to be carried, set down, and tended to. Pepper, at one stage, made an appearance as Bruce tended the tears on her feet, and Darcy groaned.

"How do you always look so good?" she complained hoarsely, then descended into a coughing fit and stopped talking.

Bruce accepted her half said apology before she could finish it - "Trust me, I think everyone here knows a thing or two about waking nightmares. No one blames you." - and then he left. Jane, Thor, Clint and Tony, they all stayed, circled around her.

"Darcy." Jane said, looking pale and sadder than Darcy had seen her since Thor's lengthy disappearance. "We -... I knew you'd been having bad dreams. I knew you'd been walking around, I knew there were times you threw up, and maybe it's my fault for not saying anything, because I thought that since the last one, they'd got better. But this- this is worse. It's getting worse."

"It's not so bad." she croaked, and coughed. She really didn't want to explain. Her feet and throat hurt, and she was tired to the bone. "I just-..." she coughed again.

Clint stepped up.

"Not now. Water, bed, rest. Later." he said, and scooped her up, despite mild protests from her. Tony said something, loudly, but Darcy couldn't hear them. Thor's rumble filled her head and while she would've liked to have been able to brush it off as just a bad dream, she knew that now, she couldn't. Threatening to kill Captain America had it's repercussions.

Clint carried her back to his room and laid her on the bed, closing the door and coming to pull the blankets over her. He got a big glass of water for her, and crawled in on the other side, leaving the bathroom light on.

Once she had finished the glass, she shuffled in, sniffing loudly, seeking out his hand under the covers.

His fingers were cold but the grip was strong, and she felt better, squeezing his hand.

"Haven't done this for a while." he told the roof.

She turned to him, pulling on his hand so he did the same, shoving his free hand under his pillow. He had the light falling on his face, so every worried crease was more prominent, and the glitter in his eyes was fiery, furious.

"I don't want to." she whispered. "Tell them."

"Something's gotta be done, Darce." he muttered. "Something's gotta change. I haven't seen you like that in over a year. And if you were living with Jane and it went away, then she's right - it is getting worse. Cuz it got better before I left. And now we're back to knives and running and screaming."

"I'm sorry." she said.

"I know, cupcake." he squeezed her hand. "But you promised me, swore up and down that if it got worse you'd do somethin'. You haven't. These ones don't come out of the blue, so you've been havin' bad dreams for a while, haven't you?"

She nodded, shut her eyes, didn't want to see the flash of rage on his patient face.

"Darcy." he said, and brought their hands up, linking their fingers between them. "You know something's gotta change, don't you?"

She nodded.

"And that I'm the last person to suggest therapy."

She nodded.

"But I think that you should see someone."

She felt her chin wobble. When she opened her eyes, all the tears spilled.

"I don't want to be broken, any more, Clint." she said.

"You're not broken, kid." He sighed heavily, bought her head under his chin. "Just a little bent. And that's okay. All the best people are."

He patted her head until she fell asleep.


	16. Chapter 16

She avoided everyone and told Clint that she'd make her own arrangements with some kind of psychiatrist or mental health professional and that he'd better not hover if he really wanted her to do it.

So once he was occupied with Bucky, and Natasha left the floor to go and train in the gym, she took her cupcakes and went to Loki.

He looked worried, upon opening the door. His bruises were faded, the split in his lip gone.

"You look good." she beamed.

"I heard you screaming." he replied. "I came to see you but they wouldn't let me. What happened?"

"I had a bad dream." she said, and walked in.

"That is not just a dream." he told her. "That was horrific. I've heard lesser screams in prison. Why are you limping? Are you hurt?"

"Look!" she lifted the plate between them. "Cupcakes!"

"Do not plaster on your false smiles and attempt to distract me." he warned.

"I'm fine." she rolled her eyes. "Really. It's just a bad dream, sometimes they get a little out of hand. Sometimes I threaten to stab Captain America. Sometimes I step in broken glass. Sometimes I dream about Ryan Reynolds, too."

"I was a god of lies, Darcy, and even if your pretending can fool the others, it will not fool me." he said, and took the plate, setting it aside. He put hands on his hips. "I cannot listen to it again and be halted from doing something."

"It won't happen again. Look, I'm gonna get some help, okay? I've booked in for a session with a woman later today. She'll probably just get me drugs and I'll snooze solidly and without a problem. Let's talk about how good your face looks!" she touched his chin, tilting his head under better lights. "It's almost cleared up."

"Yes, the wonder of makeup." he drawled. He gently pulled away, going over to his bathroom, opening a draw and pulling out a bottle of concealer. "I looked on YouTube. It's very effective. Humans do have a touch of clever I didn't realize."

"Only just now?" she said, and unwrapped the cupcakes. "Speaking of clever, I have vanilla, chocolate, red velvet. I'll make tea. You have the green ones." she smiled at him, filling his kettle with new water and getting out the mugs.

"Six of nine of those are green." he said, arching a brow. "Did you really make these?"

"Yup. And yes, I made you six. You're special and you're too thin, also, you're one of my favorite people."

"One of?" he said, warding her away from the kitchen and into the lounge area, where she could sit and get off her feet.

"Yeah. I mean, you're up there. I met up with Bucky Barnes yesterday, and he's uh, nice."

"The same one who accosted you in an alley?"

"That's the one."

"Yes, he seems  _lovely_."

"Coming from the man who attempted to rule the world?"

He smirked.

"Touche. Sugar?"

"Two, please."

While he made the tea, she explained that both she and Steve thought the Clint and Bucky thing was going good. She didn't outrightly say it was because of what Loki had done to him that they were bonding, but she figured it was pretty heavily implied, and he would do with that what he would.

Then they chatted about magic tricks - he'd been practicing, getting better and better, and she still couldn't figure out his slight of hand.

"I must admit," he said, dropping his voice. "I haven't had much fun with magic in such a long time. I think I forgot why I was so fond of it to begin with."

"You look pretty glowy." she told him. "When you're doing it. It's really impressive."

"Thanks to you. You took the time to give me a device on which I could peruse the internet. It's kept me sane."

"Yeah, wait until you find the weird side of YouTube, and Tumblr. Oh, god, you're in FanFiction. Don't read that, your brain will melt."

"Fan...ficiton." he repeated. One long fingered hand splayed over his chest. "Fan written stories. Pertaining to-?"

"Trust me dude. Stay away." she made the ward of the cross. "I mean, before I met Steve I was pretty into my Skinny!Steve stories, but now I know him and it's just - he is not what everyone thinks he is. And neither is Bucky. No... Bucky's definitely worse."

"Do you think the stories do us no justice?"

"Well, you've usually got some weird sexy kink or you're a woman, or..." His smile was slow and strangely devious. She was abruptly uncomfortable. "I don't want to talk about this anymore."

"Have you read sexually explicit stories depicting my likeness?"

"Not on purpose." she said, waving hands at him. "I don't want to talk about this any more!"

"What of the Captain? Of your dear Mr. Stark-?"

"Hey. Hey." she made a sign of a timeout. "I don't say it for my health, I'm not talking about specifics anymore. I've regressed most of this on purpose. Please don't make me think about it. If you want to have a look-"

"I do." and with a cupcake and cup of tea balanced in one hand, he picked up his laptop and started one-hand typing.

"Oh god, no." Darcy shut it on his hand. "Loki, come on."

"Alright. I'll wait until you leave."

She rolled her eyes.

"Whatever. Just... don't say you weren't warned."

"I'm sure I'd appreciate the effort if you weren't the one to bring this to my attention in the first place." he said, amused.

They chatted about everything and nothing, and Loki complimented her cupcakes more than once. It was different, when the God of Mischief mentioned he'd like more - when Tony Stark had done it, she'd wanted to do nothing less. But when Loki asked, she agreed to make as many as she knew how.

Right after her therapy, of course.

* * *

"Hello, I'm Dr. Lawrence."

"Your name is Jennifer Lawrence?"

"Yes. I know. It wasn't a problem until the Hunger Games."

"You even look like her!"

"I've been told. Come on in. Can I get you something? I'm starving. Hope you don't mind, I'm having a turkey bacon sandwich."

So the first quarter of Darcy's first shrink-sesh was spent watching the Dr. shove bacon bits into the parts of her mouth not already stuffed with bread and turkey.

"So," she patted her stomach, toeing off her shoes, sticking them up on the desk. "You're aware I'm an ex-SHIELD employee, right?"

"Yeah, I know. I kinda chose you because of that, and I think you'll understand why. I had an- issue. With someone. In SHIELD. And - I could've died. And an innocent - there were deaths. And I-... am not coping."

Even just saying it hurt, and she seized up, body trying to stop her talking.

"Okay. No, this is good." the Dr. perked up, giving her a thumbs up. "You've recognized there's a problem and now you're doing something about it. This is good! This is progress. Take your time, Darcy. Mind if I call you Darcy?"

She smiled.

"No, go for your life."

"Okay. So. There was an 'issue'." the Dr. rubbed her stomach. "I ate too fast. Go on."

It took her a second to think, but eventually she relaxed herself enough to say:

"I'm still having nightmares about it, but not regular nightmares. I'm - waking up, but still in my head, still dreaming, reliving it. And people around me, my friends, they're getting hurt. I threatened to kill someone, had a knife ready and everything." she swallowed hard. "So. What do I do?"

"Well." she adjusted her glasses. "I can prescribe muscle relaxants. Maybe some kind of sleep aid too. But I'm going to suggest that we unravel the problem, and see if we can't fix it. By the description you just gave me, I know you're not open to tell me what actually happened, but... What I want to know is, why?"

"Why?"

"Why won't you tell me about the 'issue'?"

"Because... It's painful to remember."

"No, if it were painful to remember you wouldn't be dreaming about it, you would've repressed it. That's what the brain does with painful memories, and I've treated my fair share of SHIELD agents and military men and police women so I know. And all the years of studying, too. That's a thing." she sighed. "But, in your own words, you're reliving it. And that's a totally different ballgame."

"So, there have been people who've... done what I'm doing?" she bit her lip. "And you've treated them?"

"Oh, hell yeah. Of course." the Dr. waved a hand at her. "This is your brain working through it. Brains are super weird. Trauma manifests in different ways and no one gets it the same. Just by the look on your face this issue, this wasn't something any one would easily get over. Have you noticed any social anxiety, any general awareness problems?"

Darcy shook her head.

"Just... threatening to stab one of my friends."

"Huh. That's pretty violent, not gonna lie. Have you had SHIELD training?"

Darcy wasn't sure how those things were related.

"No... I used to take self defense?"

"Nuh. Not the same. SHIELD training is all about the environment, and about not needing a weapon that isn't yourself so you don't have to worry about finding a weapon. It might be a thought to get something like it. Sometimes, when violence has been done to you, it helps to learn defense so you know you're capable of handling it if it happens again."

"That... sounds good."

The Dr. clapped her hands.

"Okay, so there's a potential coping mechanism that doesn't scare you off. Ace. So getting back to the nightmares, you're involving the people around you who - I assume - weren't involved at the time of the incident?"

She swallowed.

"One, one of them he-... was around. After the - after. Immediately, after. Kind of saved my life, during."

"Do you recognize him, when you're dreaming?"

"I-...Yes, I do, but I don't react like I do. My head says: yes, I know you, and my body says: run, scream, stab."

"Hmm." the woman folded her arms over her belly. "You knew the person who hurt you, didn't you? Trusted them?"

Darcy nodded.

"So when the 'issue' happened, you were thinking that you knew them, but you still had to react like they were an enemy?"

She swallowed.

"Yes." she said quietly.

"I see. And, when the issue happened - how many people were involved?"

"Me. Him." she winced. "A puppy... The guy who saved me, and... someone else."

"And how many people came out of it?"

"Just me, my hero, and him."

The Dr. blinked.

"Not the puppy?"

Darcy shook her head.

"Oh."

"Yeah."

There was a second, and Darcy was pretty sure that Jennifer Lawrence was probably the best shrink in the history of ever, patting her full belly and looking sad for the puppy that she hadn't even known.

"I think," she offered. "Self defense courses are a good idea. Even just tae bo could help. Something with punching, offensive violence. But you said - your brain goes: 'scream, run, stab'? You're gravitating to knives and already threatening to kill people with them, so stay away from them, okay? Train your brain. You don't need knives, just yourself."

And they kind of just talked about Darcy's drug addict mother and absentee father for a while, and then time was up, and the next session was booked without hesitation.

* * *

"How'd it go?" Clint asked her, plopping down on the couch next to her.

It was a case of literally just getting back to the tower, and waiting for him to show up. JARVIS had been curiously quiet and she had thought to open up her laptop to talk to him, when Steve jogged in, all sweaty and shiny and yum. And seriously, even the worst of days could be fixed by sweat Captain America, so she took a seat, and waited for Clint.

"Yeah, good. She gave me some pills." she held out the bottle to him and he inspected it, reading the label. She was aware that Steve was only a few meters away, attempting to drink the water supply from Stark tower through the tap, and would be able to hear every word. She didn't care, she was gonna tell him anyway. "We've got a session next week, same time, but um... I can call and go in earlier, if I need to."

"She's good?"

"Yup. Ex-SHEILD, left before the HYDRA thing." she said it in the direction of the kitchen, mostly for Steve's benefit. He put his glass down, not bothering to pretend he wasn't listening. "Jennifer Lawrence."

"Hah. Yeah, she's good." he snickered. "Tell her Hawkeye says hi."

She gave him a long look, studying the amused glint in his eyes, the smirk curling his lip.

"Clint." she said. "Did you sleep with my therapist?"

"I wish." he said, and stretched his arms up, cracking his spine. "She was super attractive. There was just... a little flirting."

"I don't want to know." she said, flapping his words away with both hands. "Stahp."

He chuckled, putting his arms down, one around the back of her chair. Steve wondered over with a sheepish smile, taking a seat opposite her, a mountain of golden, damp muscles and nice-guy smile.

Darcy sighed.

"How are you feeling?" he said quietly.

"Pretty good. She had some choice things to say about my parents, which was pretty funny." she cracked a grin that couldn't be helped. "I didn't know that therapists got to be emotionally involved in client's business."

"Yeah, but Jennifer Lawrence isn't exactly your regular therapist. She's really good. Pretty solid after the, uh..." he trailed off, looked at his hands, picking at a hard patch of callouses.

Darcy nudged him with her shoe. He swatted the back of her head, which lead to her jabbing her elbow into his rib cage. They were about to descend into a wrestling match - that Clint was already going to win, because, assassin - when she remembered.

"Wait! Wait. Before I pummel you-" he snorted. Steve may or may not have sighed shortly, and she guessed it was because he knew the feels of being significantly out of his fighting league and still game to battle on. "-She said I should take SHIELD training. So that my brain gets trained to know it's capable of proper defense, or something. So, you guys have it, right?"

There was a pause. Clint gave Steve a look, and Steve returned it, frowning slightly.

"Yeah, but honestly, I don't think it'll help in the long run. It may've, if there wasn't-..." Steve stopped talking. Clint picked it up.

"You've got trauma. It's not good. They encourage situational environments. I'd be all for it, in a little while, but right now, cupcake, you're... a little fragile."

One eyebrow rose in challenge.

Steve sat up.

"Not like that. You're capable. But it's not a good environment. When they realized who I was, the first thing they did was put everyone in Nazi uniforms and take away my shield, tell me I had a platoon of POWs to be rescued and put up a holographic simulation to take me back, way back when." he stared at her, softening. "I wouldn't do it again. They're... a little cruel."

She chewed her lip, reorganized herself on the couch so that the crook of Clint's arm braced her nape.

"If they're that cruel, then why did she recommend them?" she asked, looking between them both.

"Might have something to do with the situation. You're re-living the dream in your head, maybe she wants it when you're awake. Gives the illusion of control." Clint's mouth went into a hard line. "Which is something I know about."

She really, really didn't like that, and Steve might've got that from the sudden influx of Disney Princess eyes, or the hand she put up to Clint's to hold. He watched as the archer curled his fingers around hers, giving her a short smile at one side of his mouth.

"I could do it." he said, perking up. "I could train you."

"Oh come on." Clint scoffed. "You've got Barnes to look after. I got it."

"Hang on, I'm an adult. Let me make and informed decision." Darcy put up a hand, motioning at Steve. "Is that what you wear to training?"

He glanced down at the skin tight, sky blue shirt, the grey stretch shorts.

"Generally. Why?"

Darcy looked up at Clint.

"You didn't really even have a chance." she said, evenly. "I'm going with tall, blonde and bulgy, over there."

Steve flushed, but Clint just rolled his eyes, patting Darcy's hand before he let it go back to her lap. On and off, they watched the TV (helpfully full to the eyeballs with Sixteen and Pregnant, thanks, JARVIS), with Steve's ever present commentary about how a 'gentleman' should properly treat his 'dame'... 'specially when she's got his bun in her oven,' and intermittently organizing Darcy's training.

Steve suggested they go right then, but she really wasn't prepared.

"Hey, are you going to make me eat super healthy and cut out all my sugar?" she said abruptly. "Because... I may or may not just take my chances with the SHIELD training if you are."

"You can be fit and fighting ready and still eat pop tarts, kid." Clint said, eyes fixed on the TV.

"I don't care what you eat. So long as you are eating." Steve said with a shrug. He got to his feet, accidentally blocking half the screen with his gigantic size. "Anyway. Tomorrow, I'll meet you in the gym. I'll whip you into shape."

Darcy couldn't do anything to stop the blush, and the grin, that spread across her face.

"Why does that sound slightly more fun than you intended it to?" she said lightly.

Clint leaned closer to her ear.

"Because you read Fifty Shades of Grey."

She smacked his chest. Steve politely averted his eyes, said his 'see you later', and walked out.

"Go with him! Go see Bucky." she said, turning her attention back to the flat screen. "I want to watch this dame and her drama some more without interruption."

"Hey, since when do I interrupt?" he scoffed, kicking his feet up on the table. "Maybe I just want to watch TV with a pretty lady under my arm, you ever think of that?"

"Go say that to Natasha."

"I like my tongue where it is, thank you very much."

They watched it until the end of the episode, and Clint had picked up the remote with means to put it on the next one. She checked the time, then got up, leaving him blinking up at her.

"I've got a skype date." she said, sighing hard. Hoping her theatricality would hide all the micro expressions that would make him believe otherwise, she rolled her eyes and pulled a face. "With my mother."

"Yeouch." he winced on her behalf. He turned the TV off and propped both arms on the back of the couch. "Do you need me?"

"Why, Mr. Barton. I do declare!" she threw her hand up to her forehead. "I am a lady!"

He raised one very slow eyebrow.

"Remember, I've seen you hustle pool, kid."

She dropped her hand, putting it on the back of the couch.

"Thor thinks I'm a lady." she pouted.

"Thor is an alien." he retorted. He got up, waving a hand at her. "Text me if you need me to burst in and say something dramatic. I'm gonna go say hi to Barnes."

"Give him all my love." she said brightly.

He stopped walking, frowning a little, turning back to look at her.

"You're going to talk to your mother, the psycho drug addict," he said, because Clint was gentle and incredibly tactful. "And you're happy that I'm going?"

She momentarily chewed the inside of her mouth. Busted. Goddammit, lying to him was never going to work. He wasn't codenamed 'Hawkeye' for his ability to smell.

"Or..." a slow, evil smile spread across his face. "Is it because you want to give love to Buck-eeee?"

Even if that hadn't been her intention, she scoffed and tried to brush it off. It did not work. Again, Hawkeye.

"Well, if you wanna give love to him, that's - you be my guest. If he's into it, you two could - ew. No, don't, I saw him first. I mean, not like - I'm not calling dibs, but - you're - you're not his type, okay?"

"You don't know he isn't into dudes." he said, matter-of-factly. "He seems pretty happy when Steve's around."

"But- Steve." she made flailing hand gestures. "Steve's -  _Steve._ "

"What, he's not gonna appreciate this?" and he flexed, all rippling forearms and whipcord thick biceps, angling his hips to the side so his shirt pulled over his torso and hinted at the body underneath. Amazingly, Darcy only momentarily lost her train of thought.

"Well..." she blinked. "You can't compete. Clearly, Bucky's a boob man. Steve's tits are at least as big as mine."

Clint just laughed, loudly, holding his stomach, half jogging to the elevator.

"Clint?" she said, staring after him, mollified. He hit the button, cackling, leaning into the wall for support. "Clint, don't you tell them I said that. I'm defending my honor, it doesn't count. Clint? Clinton, no!"

Strangely, even though getting rid of him was the plan, a big part of her wanted to run after him and interrupt the spiel he'd no doubt give the super soldiers, continue with play fighting with him and shamelessly ogling Steve and maybe a little flirting with Bucky.

But she was late to see Loki as it was - and she jogged to his door, opening it and shutting it behind her.

And they talked; mostly about what the therapist said, and his immediate offer to teach her how to properly wield a knife. She refrained, because the therapist said to. He made the offer to stand, then started prodding about FanFiction and why so many Midgaurdians had an affinity to get him under his brother, and Tony Stark, and what the hell was BDSM Dom/sub?


	17. Chapter 17

She woke up at an ungodly hour in sweat and twisted sheets. There was a scream half out of her mouth, but she was herself enough to stop it. She kicked all the covers away, hugging her pillow tight, and had crossed the room to have a shower when there was a knock at the door.

She hadn't even screamed loudly. There were no peep holes, so she cracked it open an inch to see Tony, leaning to the side to see her face.

"Hey." she said, a little broken. She opened the door. "What's up?"

There was a guilty pause. Then the rambling.

"Look, it's not a total invasion of privacy, I don't actually hear everything, JARVIS just mentions when you make enough noise to be concerned - and I mean, it's not like I record anything, just keep an ear on it, but not until it's - decibels, of noise and if there's, uh, company, or whatever, it just gets factored in and like I said, it's not even me - well it sort of - it's JARVIS who does all the factoring and listening and alerting and that's - it's clearly a preventative measure,  _clearly_ , so that you don't bleed all over my pretty tower again. And Steve could - you know, probably do well without getting stabbed, even if sometimes I want to stab him myself, so."

She tilted her head.

"Have you put the touch screens on the bots, yet?"

He blinked. She understood it as a no.

"I'll be down in five." she said, and shut the door.

She must've been really into it, because one second she was sitting down next to Butterfingers with a screen in her hand, and then Steve was holding a plate under her nose.

"Hang on," she said, and valiantly attempted to see over the toast. "Just a minute..."

"I'll get Jane." he said mildly.

She scoffed.

"You could step on Jane." she fiddled, tongue poking out to the side in concentration. "Could pop her. Like a Starburst. Yum."

"Could, but won't." he waved the plate - mm, buttered toast - under her nose again. "I'm going to get her."

"Unless she's doing science. In which case, good luck, buddy." she twisted the screwdriver. "Almost. Give me a second. Almost done. JARVIS, have we got an up-link on standby?"

"Of course, miss." JARVIS drawled. "We have done this before."

She grinned into the machine.

"I love you." she told him.

"Were I capable of love, you'd certainly be the object of my affections."

"I resent that!" Tony's voice, somewhere under an Iron Man suit, working on the boots.

"And were I capable of caring, I wouldn't mind that."

She giggled.

"So sassy." the screen was almost ready.

A few more adjustments to go. ALF wondered up to her and sat next to her, peering at Steve from under her elbow. He was a little timid around people who weren't her and Tony, still learning to recognize people and expressions. Like a toddler, he had his favorites. And Tony exploited that, frequently, but Darcy saw him grinning down at the little bot more than once.

She petted his touch screen, and tried to fit as much of herself in the other bot as she could, tampering -

"I'm getting Jane." Steve warned.

"She'll sic Thor on you." she retorted.

"And Thor'll probably enjoy it." Tony said, wiping hands on a rag that was probably putting on just as much grease and yuck as it was taking off. "I'd put money on that fight. Cage match. We can bring in the shield and the hammer, it'll be fun. And as much and I enjoy dad's old experiments showing up unannounced, what are you even doing in my lab, interrupting the genius of my favorite minion?"

"We had a date." Steve said, and Tony balked.

"He's gonna teach me how to punch things." Darcy told him, off-handedly. "And again, you're nice and everything, but I'm pretty sure you're not my type."

"What, don't like tits as big as yours?" Steve said, deadpan, and Darcy's screwdriver slipped and nicked the end of her thumb.

She stuck it in her mouth, staring at at him, wide eyed.

"I'm gonna kill Robin Hood." she whispered around the thumb. "What did he tell you? Did he tell _Bucky_?"

"He mighta." Steve was trying to suppress laughter, but with a chest like his, it simply didn't work.

Tony was scowling at the side of his head, but looked down at Darcy.

"What did M.A.S.H do now?" he said. "Did you want me to involve myself?"

"Are you not already involving yourself?" she looked at him, mortified. 

He shrugged.

"Tell me what I'm involving myself in and I'll think about it."

"I..." she said slowly, turning to the machine, patiently waiting for her further input. "...May or may not have implied that... were Bucky inclined to liking males... that Clint wouldn't be his type because... he's a...Boob man and Steve's boobs are huge?"

"He's an ass man, actually." Steve supplied, rather cheerfully.

"Are you trying to seduce the Million Dollar Man?" Tony said sharply. "Do I put Hawkeye on this to make sure that you two are not rutting in corners?"

"Ex _cuse_  me! I would not rut in a corner with James..." that was a lie. A terrible, horrible lie. "I would blow his mind with my tongue. But - with wit. I am a lady, even Thor says so, thank you very much."

Tony seemed appeased, looking oddly proud of her. Steve wasn't fooled, and waved the toast at her.

"Do I have to do battle with the god of thunder to steal his girlfriend to get you out of your science funk, or what?"

She blinked hugely at him.

"Can I just... do this?" she turned on the pout and the fluttery lashes, full force. "Please, Steve? It's only gonna take a couple minutes."

"Naw." Tony all but melted. He elbowed the super solider. "How can you say no to that face?"

"Easily." Steve said flatly. "The serum makes me immune."

But the longer she pouted at him, the looser his stance went, until finally he pulled up a chair and sighed as he sank into it, waving a hand at her to continue. She grinned and aimed it back at Butterfinger's insides, working quicker without cataloging what went where and how he all came together.

"All good, J." she said, scooting back. "Load him up!"

"Initiating load." he replied, sounding cool and smooth. "Load complete. Welcome to sensory receptors, Butterfingers."

The robot trained his camera on Darcy's face, then angled himself to show off the new touch pad. She stroked it gently, and the robot shuddered, then whirred his wheels and went to Tony, offering up the screen. He patted it, and the robot made happy noises.

Timidly, he went to Steve, and lifted the screen up to him. Steve swiped it, drew a circle, and Butterfingers just about dismantled himself, shaking down as small as he could get before rocketing back up for another pat. Steve drew a circle, and the robot whistled, clicked, and shuddered down into a pile before rolling away, trilling at U and Dum-E.

"What did you do?"

Darcy gave him the brief version, but Steve's eyebrows went up and up.

"Okay, got about three words outta that noise."

She giggled, bumped her shoulder against Tony's.

"We gave him a sensor to feel stuff. To be petted and recognize it as good repercussions."

"We?" Tony parroted. He put an arm around her. "She. She did the code, I didn't even have to touch it. Darcy had the idea, did the tech, made it work. This is all yours, baby,  _I_  didn't do a thing."

"You helped." she insisted. "JARVIS helped."

"Ninety three percent was all you." he smiled so wide happy lines framed his eyes.

"Thanks." she said warmly, and blushed a little. "But really, if you didn't already make the bots..."

"Take the compliment, kiddo." he said, taking his arm off her. "I don't hand 'em out like I used to."

"Okay." she rolled her eyes. "I'm going to learn how to punch people now. I'll see you later?"

"Make me cupcakes." he said to the suit.

She rolled her eyes, picking up her toast in slightly grubby hands.

"Mmm. Captain America is my favorite flavor of topping."

Tony dropped something on his foot and swore very, very loudly.

"You did that on purpose." Steve accused.

She chewed the corner of the toast, blinking innocently. Noticing that ALF had followed on her heels, she beamed down at him.

"Hello, my precious baby. This is Steve. Steve, this is ALF. He's my robotic son."

"I'm sure Tony's thrilled." he said, amused. "Hiya, ALF."

ALF whistled, then said, in a little stuttery voice:

"Hi Steeb."

Darcy just about dropped her plate.

"ALF!"

He made an inquisitive noise, lifting up on hydraulics that hissed.

"Dar-cee?"

"You can talk? When did- did Tony-?"

"If I may," JARVIS said coolly. "Tony did not. You did, approximately six hours ago."

"But, but I thought I just put on Butterfinger's sensors?" she looked up at the roof. "J, how long have I been in the lab?"

"Nearly ten hours." he replied promptly. "You were in 'science funk' mode for nine and a half of them."

She crouched.

"Dar-cee?" ALF said. "Mad?"

"No, no, honey, I'm not mad." she melted a little. "Oh, oh my Thor. You're so cute. I can't. I can't even. Look at you! You're talking!"

"Best." ALF squeaked. "Best add-on."

"You're the best add-on to my life." she told him.

He dropped, made cooing noises, then rubbed his little head against her knee.

"Dar-cee. Best."

"Oh, baby." she looked up at Steve, beaming, scooping the robot up in her hand and navigating toast to her mouth with the other. "You want to come and meet some people?"

"Yup." the robot said, and looked at Steve, cameras adjusting to zoom in on his face. "Steeb."

"Yes, that's Steve."

"Gon pun-ch?" the robot's head tilted. "Pun-ch Steeb?"

"I'm learning how to. There won't be any punching of Steve."

"Not today." Steve said lightly, and reached over to pet the robot, who whistled happily and pushed his head against the Captain's fingers. "Naw."

Darcy couldn't help but laugh, nearly spitting toast out every where. Steve had to take her plate so she didn't smash it, and they walked to her room so she could get some clothes.

"If you want to sleep and shower, we can reschedule." he said, through the door.

"You just wanna play with ALF." she accused through it.

"Absolutely."

"Steeb best!"

There were excited wheel noises, chipping, then hydraulics.

"I can't believe you made him." Steve said, loud enough that she could hear through the door. "He's really impressive."

"JARVIS helped. And so did Tony!"

"Tony would've taken a lot more credit if he actually did." Steve hollered. "Oh hey, that's clever! How'd you do that?"

She pulled open the door to see ALF on the table.

"Dar-cee." he made grabby hands at her. "Climb up. Is good?"

"Careful you don't fall." she told him. "How are you going to get down?"

ALF spun in a circle, camera eyes adjusting. The shutters blinked once, twice. Then he made grabby hands at Steve.

"Help!" he said, and Steve just about died on the spot, quickly going to lift him single handedly and put him on the floor, drawing a circle on his head. ALF squeaked happily, and spun in a circle, then rushed over to the door and looked up beeping.

JARVIS definitely sighed, then made the door open so ALF could speed out. Then poke his head back through.

"Come on!" he said gleefully, and waited until the humans had caught up so he could whirl down the hall, hit the brakes, and topple onto his side. He struggled, but Darcy knew that he had no leverage to get up from there, and starting taking long strides to pick him up when Bruce Banner decided to do it for her.

"You okay, little guy?" he said kindly, as he eased the robot into standing.

ALF recoiled a little, then refocused on his face, and squeaked happily.

"Best!" he said. "T'anks!" he looked back at Darcy, motioning up at the amused geneticist, who just turned a zen smile to her.

"Tony told me about Darcy's first baby robot." he said. "I was expecting less advanced, to be perfectly honest. Even Tony's first ones don't talk."

"Yeah, but can you imagine if Butterfingers could? Or poor Dum-E?" she petted ALF's head. "No, those are helping bots for the shop. ALF, this is Bruce, Bruce this is ALF, he's my friend."

"BEST." ALF said, and spun in happy circles. "Best, best, best."

"Apparently." Bruce's brows went up, a smile on his mouth. "You're his best friend."

"Hell yeah." she looked between the two Avengers as they made their 'hello, how are you's, bending to pet ALF while they did so. After most of the casual chatting was said, she popped back into standing, grinning at her little bot, who was circling Bruce's legs with genuine curiosity, big lenses trained up at him. "So, Steve-o, we're going to punch things today, right?"

"Yes ma'am."

"Then let's get punching!"  She made a mock one-two punch at Bruce, bobbed in place.

Steve made a dull noise.

"I'm going to have a lot of work to do," he told her. "If you think that's any kind of punching you should be doing."

"I'll let you go then." Bruce mused, waving shortly, wandering down the hall. 

It didn't go unnoticed that ALF's eyes were fixed on him as he went. He even rolled a little closer, shutters clicking closed, claws gently tapping together. 

"Dar-cee?" he said, volume a little shaky.

"Yeah?" she quirked a smile. She'd programmed him, so she knew what he was like, but his next question threw her for a loop. She had underestimated  what would come of integrating JARVIS's learning capabilities in a robot she'd also modeled after WALL-E. 

"Can go with Broo?" he said, blinking. "Learn more?"

She bit her lip. Oh my god. So cute.

"Does Bruce mind?" she asked, pitched just loud enough for him to turn, consider the robot looking at him without moving.

"No, Bruce doesn't mind." he offered, smiling mildly. "As long as he's careful with my samples."

"Can do samp-lez." ALF jumped, squeaked, spun off very quickly, zooming past the geneticist, before squealing to a stop and circling around to see where he was.  "Come Broo!"

And he sped away, hitting the brakes just in time to topple over again. Bruce just shook his head, ever smiling, and went after him, setting him up right and wondering back down to his lab with a new friend in tow.

* * *

 

Steve set her up with wraps around her hands so he could cushion her blows and see what she was doing, then set up and showed her how he punched things.

She tried, really, really hard to focus on his fists, not on his arms and ridick triangular shape. But that, essentially, was trying not to fly too close to his sun and catching on fire. She hadn't even hit anything and she was sweating.

"Showin' off to the dame ain't gonna learn her how to punch." Bucky's drawl was cool and casual, and Darcy jumped.

"Hey!" she said. "What're-?" a hand went nervously to her hair.

Somehow with Steve, it hadn't mattered that she was a little bit greasy and a little sweaty and definitely staring at his butt, because, well. Steve's butt. It hadn't mattered that her hair was a bird's nest or that she was a little spotty or that she was in one of Clint's t-shirt and the rattiest leggings she owned, coming off ten hours in a lab like the little grease monkey she was at heart.

"Well, I heard from a little birdy that you two were throwin' punches." he put a metal hand on his chest. "I'm typically all about punches."

She noticed he was in training gear. Training gear, like black shorts that had precisely enough cling to show off what was underneath. And it wasn't a shirt, so much as a grey sleeveless bit of material that hugged his entire torso.

"You should punch each other." she said, because it was the first thing that came into her brain and shot out of her mouth. "For science."

"We punch each other enough." Steve said, at the same time Bucky shrugged and popped off the wall.

"For science." Bucky mused. "That's what you got?"

She took a second.

"I'm a visual learner and if I see how you guys fight it'll help me?" she tried.

His grin was  _predatory_.

"Better."

* * *

 

Turns out, she really could've just watched the two of them bat at each other for hours, and they were more than ready to indulge. Steve pretended like he didn't notice the staring, but Bucky straight up yanked his shirt off and winked at her. (Which is when her ovaries packed suitcases and left the building.)

But the thing was, they were only playing, really, bopping around talking a lot of smack. Which in itself was entertaining, really. ALF rolled in after about five mintues, and she picked him up, setting him up on her lap, idly petting his belly.

Although he made happy noises, his cameras were trained on the fighting.

"Did you behave with Bruce?" she wondered.

"Yus. Did Science!" he told her. "Broo good. Missed Darc-ee."

"Oh, honey." she looked at the bundle of joy in her arms, staring up with unfiltered adoration. "I love you. You make me so happy."

"Love you." he told her, and clicked his pincers, rolling his wheels slowly. "What you do with St-eeve?"

"Well, I'm supposed to be learning how to punch things. But these two-" she said, a touch louder. "Are taking too long with all the fun stuff, so unless more clothing is removed, I'm going to have a proper shower!"

Bucky took it as a personal challenge, and Steve reciprocated. They were a pretty even pair, but the punches turned into kicks and backhanded swings, and the smack talk turned to grunts.

ALF popped up out of her arms, going over to the ring. He navigated himself up, outside, and lifted himself until he was at hip height, watching with big eyes, twitching whenever a blow was landed. When Bucky had backed Steve up against the ropes, ALF's arms flailed at his sides.

"STEEB." he said, urgent, volume cranked all the way up. "DUCK."

And Steve obeyed, just as Bucky's metal fist would've made connection with his face.

"PUN-CH." the robot said, and Steve straight out socked him in the gut. "SWEEP KICK."

Steve slid his foot between Bucky's and knocked one to the side, making him loose his balance, take several steps back, fists going to the back of the ropes to hold him up. He blinked at the robot, who decompressed and trilled, wheeling in to bump against Steve's leg.

"Win?" he said.

"Gotta land him on his back to win." he considered. "And he taps out."

The robot looked at Bucky.

"Tap out." he said.

"No." the solider scoffed. "I can take him. Who are you, anyway?"

He stood a little taller.

"Dar-cee'z best."

That took Bucky a second. He crouched, scowling slightly, and tipped his head at him. A lengthy strand of hair fell into his eyes, and he arched a brow.

"Did Darcy make you?"

"Yup." the robot sped forward, held out a little claw. "Her baby. ALF."

Bucky's other brow went up. He put two fingers forward and shook the little hand, nodding.

"Hi. I'm Bucky."

ALF lifted a little, as high as he could, cameras narrowing on his face.

"Buck-ee iz an ass man?" he said, and Darcy hid her face in both hands, swearing to herself about making a voice box for the robot.

Bucky flicked his eyes toward her, then up at Steve.

"Yeah, that'd be me. The ass man. What else do you know about me, huh?"

"O-KAY. That's enough punching." Darcy got up, clapping her hands. "I'm  _exhausted_ , wow, you guys are such good teachers - ALF we're going!"

"But-" he looked at her with big eyes. "Blow Buck-eez mind?"

"Okay. You stay. Explain I meant with wits, byeeee." and she basically ran out of there. She - literally - ran out of there, listening to Bucky trying to call her back through all the laughing he was doing.

* * *

 

The only place she could think to go was to Loki, collapsing dramatically on his bed and burying her face under his pillows. He shut the door behind her and stretched out on the bed like a cat, waiting patiently with fingers interlocked on his chest, an eyebrow up and burning her skull.

"I think I have a crush on Bucky." she said, muffled. She turned to look at him, inspect his face for damage and for expression, not entirely sure where it would get her to whinge about a potential romance to a guy who recently tried to enslave her planet.

"Is that a bad thing?" he mused.

"It is when I consistently put my foot in my mouth in front of him." She put her head down on the pillow, hugging it tightly with both arms.

"Does your foot not otherwise end up in your mouth?" he sounded so  _polite_. 

"You're not helping." she muttered, turning to look at him, big eyed and frowny mouthed.

"Was I supposed to?"

She considered.

"I don't know. Anyway. First world problems. How are you?"

"I'm fine. Watching a series called Game of Thrones. And I am _enthralled_." his eyes were twinkling. "I've such an affinity for the Kahleesi, and for the Imp. My attachment is surprisingly intense."

"Oh, hell yeah, Dany is the shit. And he's a badass the whole way through." she perked up, leaning on her elbows. "What are you up to in the story?"

"The first chapter - that is," he shifted, his smile sheepish, and a little excited. "The season."

"Oh, dude. You have to tell me everyone you love right now so I can calculate the damage when they die."

"Who dies?" he sobered, blinking at her. "They die?"

"Yeah, basically everyone dies. And gets hurt. And there's sex. And oh my god, Loki, don't get super attached to anyone, this show is literally just about incest and death and kingdoms and sex."

"What is it? Who dies?" he sat up. "Tell me!"

"And spoil the emotional trauma? No way. You're gonna watch it like the rest of us, pal. And, and, I have to be here for the Red Wedding...!"

"What wedding? Who marries?" he grabbed her shoulder, shaking slightly, with a smirk on his face. "Why is it red? Tell me the Imp survives!"

"Nevarrrr!" she declared, and rolled away.

He stood, getting on his knees in front of her.

"My lady Darcy, if you please," he said, silky and cooing. "It would be a grand and thoroughly appreciated gesture if you could find it within your deep and tantalizing knowledge to explain to me of whom marries, and who dies."

"Jesus, you're not kidding about the silver tongue thing, are you?" she was very, very amused.

"Do not make me beg." his face... ugh. Not fair. "I will if I must."

"Oh my god-!"

"Just Loki, these days."

She shoved his shoulder, and he cracked an entirely naughty smile.

"There's only one way this can be solved." she decreed, trying to be solemn.

"Tell me." he said, promptly serious, though his eyes were glittering.

"We have to watch them. Marathon. Right now. Let's go."

* * *

 

She had to leave eventually, because apparently sometime during beheadings and betrayals and incest, Steve had gone to her room to get her to go to their apartment so Bucky could apologize and see that she wasn't socially traumatized, but she wasn't there. But Clint was, waiting for her to get back to see how her training was going, leaving a sniper and a super solider looking for her collectively, (not a good thing, ever, in any sense that wasn't sexually geared,) so she left promptly at JARVIS's suggestion, and went to the communal lounge area, flopping into it and clicking on any show just as Clint walked in.

"The hell'd you disappear to?" he mused, plonking beside her.

"I was hiding." she said. "JARVIS said Bucky was looking for me."

"Do you not want to speak to the ass man?" he grinned.

"If I could actually speak normally when he's around." she told him. "I just - every time he's in the room, I just... my mouth doesn't cooperate and I end up saying stupid things. I'm not stupid, Clint."

"Yeah, I know. But you're never gonna disprove anything to him if you hide out. Besides, Steve told me you didn't actually learn anything today." he nudged her. "You're supposed to be training."

"I...observed." and in his particular drawl: "I see better from a distance."

He rolled his eyes so hard they were in danger of getting stuck looking at his brain.

"Not the same and you know it." he said. "Put something good on, what're you watching Spanish news for?"

"Reminds me of New Mexico." she retorted. "We got three channels out there, and guess which was the clearest?"

He just hunkered down and they sat in contented silence, all the while Darcy felt like an ass for having to not-lie to him about the Loki situation.

She would tell him, eventually.

Just, not today.


	18. Chapter 18

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> CLUUUES. 
> 
> CLUES EVERYWHERREEEEE
> 
>  
> 
> (Go to sleep, Aude.)  
>  (Okay.)

The dream was super weird.

It was the space before her nightmare, where Bucky and Steve and ALF were all in the boxing ring, and then Bucky picked up ALF with his metal arm and like... absorbed him. Then he was touching things, touching Steve and reaching out to touch her when the dream warped and went to shit and she woke up all sweaty again.

There was no screaming, this time, so Tony never appeared, and she got to shower and wash her hair, sit under the hot spray and just chill out, for a minute. She was living on maybe six hours sleep for two days, and in some ways, it was worse than not sleeping at all.

There was a break in her thinking, a lapse where she short circuited, blinking through the water at the door, so sure that she'd closed it behind her, when it was now wide open.

And yes, she panicked, because no horror movie ever went well from there.

But ALF just whirred into view, tilting his head, blinking.

"You okay?" he said.

She smiled.

"I'm okay, baby. Everything's okay. What are you doing up?"

"Hu-man sleep mode noaw." he said, matter of factly. "To-nee sleep noaw. Broo sleep noaw. Dar-cee online?"

"Bad programming." she said sullenly. "I got hacked."

ALF's alarm was visible, down to the suddenly stiff claws and straightened head. He looked every inch a little robot.

"ALF pun-ch!" he said.

"No, no you won't. My hacker's gone, he's gone away." she swallowed. "I'm reprogramming. It's just... taking a long time."

ALF settled a little, loosened a little, went back to his regular tiny height and tilted head.

"Ton-ee good." he said. "Ton-ee pro-gram?"

"Tony's helping." she smiled. "And Steve. And Bucky. And Clint. And Loki."

ALF blinked.

"Lo-kee?"

"Uhm, yeah, you haven't met him yet. Maybe tomorrow." she pushed the taps off. "Go wait in my room, you're not waterproof. I'll do it in a minute."

"No." he said. "Program Dar-cee first."

"Hey, don't you sass me. I didn't code that into you. I'll waterproof you if I want, priorities, jeeze." she shoo'd him. "Go on. Skeddaddle."

He whistled as he went, glancing back before pulling the door shut behind him. She looked up at the roof.

"How long has he been here, J?"

"All of five minutes. I told him that you were awake." he replied. "I supposed that company might be preferable, as for once, the entirety of the Avengers is well and truly asleep."

She stood, scrubbing down, sighing.

"I appreciate it." she said, and tucked the towel around her body and went to the bedroom, getting into some comfy clothes and going to Tony's lab.

She couldn't, for the life of her, find anything to waterproof her robotic baby. She left him and Dum-E frolicking together, chasing each other around the lab. Vaugely, she thought that she should add something to his sides so that if he fell over, he could pop back up.

And then she woke up on the couch, Clint's hoodie put around her upper body.

"Woah." she squinted, lifted her head. "Time is it?"

"Nine past ten in the morning." JARVIS supplied.

"How'd... How'd I get here?"

"You walked. I turned the television off once your vitals read asleep." there was a pause. "Are you feeling alright, Darcy?"

She would've replied yes, except she woke up again.

This time she was in her bed, but her actual childhood bed, bed. The one she'd been staying in before she left to go to school, surrounded by dirty laundry, soft cardboard boxes, scattered, worn books with highlighter markings and scribbles in the margins.

She made her coffee and pop tarts, and went in to wake her mother up.

"Mom... I'm coming in." She looked up. "Please be a good day."

Except her mother wasn't there, just an unmade bed, and bottles in various places.

"Mom?" she looked around, didn't see her. Tried the handle to the bathroom, but it was locked. "Oh, Jesus. Please - Mom? Mom? Are you in there?"

She knocked. Tried the handle.

"Oh, where the hell is a goddamn superhero when you need one?" she muttered, and put her head down, butting it against the door. "Please, please open the door... Mom?"

She heard a phone ringing. Picked it up, answered.

"Darcy?"

She didn't know how she knew who it was. She felt the blood drain out of her face.

"Dad?"

Woke up again in her trailer. Then rolled over, went back to sleep, because -

"No science today, Jane, I don't feel well-"

And woke up again in front of Bucky, who was holding her arms, giving her a gentle shake.

"...Doll?" he said, bent to stare into her eyes.

"I'm reprogramming. I'm reprogramming. Mom? Where the hell's a goddamn superhero when you need one? I got hacked. I don't feel well. Bad programming. Dad? I'm reprogramming. I don't feel well, dad. I'm reprogramming. I'm..." She realized, abruptly, that she was talking. "...Going out of my goddamn mind. Please tell me I'm awake."

"You're awake. This is real life." Bucky said.

She became aware of Tony, sort of, arms crossed and bouncing with nervous energy, looking at her, and staring without blinking. And strangely, she wanted to mention that she was okay, but what came out was:

"I'm reprogramming, guys, it's cool."

"Yeah, I'm familiar." Bucky said, and gave her a little smile. "Any reason you were telling me you were gonna waterproof my arm?"

She blinked, blushed, and hung her head.

"And why you were head butting me, that'd be something I'd like to understand. And no, sweetheart, I ain't your dad, either, far as I know, at least."

"I said all of that out loud, didn't I?" she muttered.

"Yup." he smiled at her, and it... melted, all the ice that she felt. She didn't know the details of him living with Steve, but she guessed with near hundred per cent clarity that his recovery was something like hers. "Want some coffee?"

"Love some." she groaned, wiping both hands over her face. "What time is it now?"

"Six am." Bucky didn't lead her to the kitchen, but she was drawn there anyway. He put the percolator on and got milk out of the fridge. "You been sleepin' long?"

"I don't know. I just woke up like five different times in five different places, so..."

"And you met your-?" Tony's voice made a valiant attempt at sound, but cut out. He cleared his throat. "...Parent?"

"No. That was weird. I've never met him before, but he called when I was looking for my mom."  _The washed out addict with the chip on her shoulder._  "More importantly, did I, or did I not, go for an adventure in your lab? Because I was going to water proof ALF, and I couldn't find any thing that'd do it without corrupting his joints and restricting his movement..."

Tony wet his lip, then shrugged one shoulder and sauntered over to the kitchen, taking a seat on the stool beside her.

"I take mine black." he told the super solider, and leaned both arms on the counter. "I think I've got a spray or something that might work. If not, I'll get Bruce on it and we'll make one. Something with high elasticity. No pseudo grandchild of mine is gonna want for anything."

And despite feeling a little bit like a bag of assholes, that made Darcy smile, and lean her head over to butt against his shoulder, resting for a minute until Bucky slid over her cup of coffee.

"Thanks. You're the best." she said, and yawned behind the mug. With two superheros in the room, she didn't feel so threatened; in fact, knowing that both of them were there made her eyelids feel heavy and brain start to shut down. Although when Steve walked in, sweaty and golden and in his two-sizes-too-small spanx, she perked up a little more.

"Oh, good morning, Darcy, Tony. How ya doin', Buck?"

"Never better, pal." he was looking at Darcy's face, the eyes that went wide on Steve's shoulders. "You still gettin' your training today, kid?"

"Huh?" attractively, she blinked at him, mouth open.

"The thing you were trying to get Steve to do yesterday. Doin' it today?"

"Uh... I think so?"

His grin was equal parts terrifying and arousing.

"Do it with me."

Tony had a coffee inhalation accident, and coughed hard enough that Darcy had to break concentration to pat him on the shoulder. Steve filled a glass with water and slid it over, to which the mechanic, gulped it down, giving her raised eyebrows as he did so.

"You're doing  _what_?" he said, intermittently coughing. "With _who_?"

"Oh, Steve was teaching me how to punch things." she mentioned. "As per my psychiatrist suggested-"

"You have a psychiatrist? I didn't know that. Who? Are they even worth it?"

"She's good. Clint said-"

"Oh, 'Clint said.'" he said, and took his coffee, standing. "Look, Happy is a good boxing coach, and what are these two gonna know about regular human physiology? Come on down to my floor, I could show you better than these two."

"No." she scowled at him. "I like punching things with these two."

"Just because they're prettier than me? Distraction. Not all villains are attractive."

"Mine have been." she said, then remembered that no, she wasn't supposed to mention that. She looked at her coffee, then turned away from Tony, barely putting her attention on Bucky's sternum. "I'll meet you in an hour?"

"Sure thing, doll." he murmured.

She gathered up her coffee, and turned away.

"Hey, where're you going?"

She saw that Tony's bare feet were tracking after her, the hem off his too long track pants worn and thin and fraying. He could be as rich as he wanted, he was a comfort kinda guy and there was no way that would change. That being said, she didn't particularly want him around when he had a way of making her comfortable to the point of spilling her secrets.

"For a shower, Tony, did you wanna follow me there, too?"

He balked. His skin went sickly white.

"Nope."

"Good. Stay."

She didn't look at any of them, leaving the room with her eyes put down.

* * *

 

It took her precisely half an hour to shower, but only ten minutes to fall right back to sleep.

She was pretty sure she wasn't dreaming, when she cracked open just a slither of her eye to see Bucky there, kneeling by the bed, sniper intense eyes trained on her face.

"You alright?" he muttered.

"Mmn. Comfy. Snuggle?" she lifted the blanket, inviting him in.

His eyes went to the offered space, and there was a pause, while the cold of the room bled into her cocoon of sleepiness.

"You're not really awake, doll." he drawled. "Be takin' advantage."

"Yeah but I'll be better while you're here." she shut her eyes. "Cuz he can't kill you, can he?"

"Sure he can't." he said finally. His gentle face stroking made her hum, snuggle into the covers. "Wanna give me his name, sweetheart?"

"Buck. Bucky no." she said, yawning into the pillow. "I'm cold, snuggle with me."

"I can just... wait here."

One eye opened. Her entire pupil was blown - she was still more asleep than awake.

"If I'm dreaming, it's a good dream, and I want you to get into bed with me. Please."

He stared, for a long second, then looked down at her half attempt to get dressed. After a shower, she'd pulled on panties and a bra, and what had once been Clint's hoodie. She'd even managed one sock, he was amused to see. He gave her a lengthy once over.

"I ain't gonna touch you, though."

"Can I touch you?"

"...If you want." He took off his shoes and climbed in with her. He put his back to her front and she wriggled up, forming to his shape, her arm winding around his rib cage and cupping a handful of chest, snuggling right up into his nape.

"Your hair smells so good." she told him.

"Thanks." he shifted. "Wanna tell me who I'm lookin' out for, to make sure he don't get the jump on me?"

She just nuzzled the space between his shoulders, petting his chest.

"You're so nice to cuddle." she told him. "You're toasty warm. I feel safer now."

He deflated, sighing hugely, wiggling until he had a little more room on the bed, considering he had about twenty percent when his general width required a little more.

"Go back to sleep, Darce."

"Okee doke."

She thought he stroked her arm with careful human fingers, thought that the longer she held him, the more comfortable he got...

But when she woke up, she assumed that part was another fraction of her brain making things up again, never mind that in her dreams, she was always, always alone.


	19. Chapter 19

"Hawkeye says hi, by the way."

Dr. Lawrence rolled her eyes, unable to form words with all the chicken cheese sandwich in her mouth. She chewed, chewed, swallowed, then put a hand up to her lips.

"How's the pills?" she said, but half of it still fell out onto her desk.

Darcy shrugged, a small smile on her face.

"I haven't been taking them."

The woman hummed, picked up whatever bits of chicken that had fallen out of the bottom of her sandwich, and shoveled it into whatever crevice it would fit in her mouth. She swallowed, took a long pull from her water bottle, then nodded at Darcy.

"Because of your mother, right?"

"That's-... Yes." she blinked, looked down at her hands. "I hate having them in my apartment, they make me feel so on edge."

"Tell me about it." she took a graciously smaller bite of her sandwich. "Because you seemed fine when I prescribed them."

"That's because I was, and I thought I was. But whenever I see my little orange bottle, I feel - like  _her_. I grew up in piles of orange plastic and green glass. It's not like - I don't want help. I want help. I want to sleep. But I'm - I have an addictive personality, but I've seen what it does and I don't want to..."

"Become like her?" Dr. Lawrence guessed, tilting her head. "Darcy, you recognize pill popping as a problem. You know that addiction is a potential thing that may happen to you, and you know you're stronger than that. You know these pills aren't addictive the same way as the ones your mother took."

"Takes." Darcy corrected, still staring at her hands. "It's not like I made any dramatic promise not to lean on drugs or anything. But I've seen what happens when they take over... and a part of me, a really loud part of me, is saying that I shouldn't take them because I'll lose control of being able to wake up."

"And waking up," the woman said slowly, her blue eyes warm and thoughtful on Darcy's face. "That's something you control now?"

Darcy would never admit to flinching, but it was what she did. She'd woken up six times, each time convinced that she was well and truly awake, but only further trapped in the inception that was her brain. She looked up to see the doctor considering her, hands wrapped around her sandwich, just observing.

"Have you had any other dreams?" she asked, quietly.

"Yeah." she made a point to maintain eye contact. "I had another walking one, but it wasn't... bad. It was a combination of dreams in different places where I basically just woke up again and again... and I was talking. Apparently I headbutted someone. But gently! Gentle headbutting. I thought he was a door, and I was kinda... banging my head against it."

"Gently?" Dr. Lawrence confirmed.

"Yes." Darcy nodded. She got a hand wave to continue her story, to which she did, outlining the dream and the many times she woke up without realizing she was still asleep. "So I woke up telling them both I was reformatting, or something, and that I'd been hacked but I was working on it, talking to my mom and my dad, and asking them where superheros were when I needed them. And then - oh, jeeze, and then - I woke up for real, had a shower - forgot to put pants on - and went back to sleep. And I had another dream where I woke up and I saw that awesome hot guy I've got the crush on, and I invited him in to bed with me, and I just... Well, I slept for like fifteen straight hours, to be honest."

"Did he get into bed with you?"

"Yeah. He let me spoon him."

The doctor's brow went up.

"Did it progress, sexually?"

"I wish." Darcy rolled her eyes. "It would've been more action than I've been getting lately."

"Did you indicate to him you wanted it to progress?"

Darcy shook her head.

"He was pretty solid about not touching me, said I wasn't in my right mind. But I could touch him."

"Did you?"

"I hugged him."

The doctor hummed.

"Was he there when you woke up?"

"Nope. Another dream."

She chewed, chewed, swallowed.

"So, the over all out loud part of this whole thing was that you were talking to your parents - that's a whole other shit storm, okay, let's analyze that later - but you were telling them what, that you were reformatting?"

"I think I used the word 'reprogramming'." she scrunched her nose. "I don't know. I was more mortified that I was headbutting the hottie with the body, to be honest."

"What does reprogramming mean?"

"It literally means to edit and go over programs in a computer. Why...?"

"It's generally a good thing, right?" the doctor took another long drink from her water bottle, wiping her mouth (and smearing her pink lipstick) on a napkin. "A computer gets a virus, you reprogram it, fix the issue, make it useful?"

"Well, yeah, kinda."

"I think it's a good dream, and you're making progress." she said cheerfully. "You're telling people that you're editing yourself. You've had a virus and now you're working on it. Well done to you for subconsciously recognizing that, four for you, Glenn Coco. While you're here, do you want to make a reservation for the SHIELD training bit?"

"Uh... Don't take this the wrong way, but someone told me they're hardcore and I shouldn't do it." she considered the doctor. "Apparently they get you to detail your worst nightmares and then make you relive them, or something?"

"Oh, yeah, but that's consensual. Also, much later in the program. I wouldn't - Jesus, who do you know, that did that? Don't tell me, that's cool. But seriously. That's - super advanced."

Darcy wondered if she meant literally 'super' advanced.

"So... what will we do?"

"Well, they'll show you how to fight, use commonplace things around you as weapons. They'll show you things like how to get out of a chair if you're tied to it, or maybe if you get handcuffed. Stuff like that. I wouldn't advise the other one straight off, God." she rolled her eyes. "How's next week sound?"

Darcy looked at her hands.

"Sounds good to me, Doc."

 

* * *

 

She went to the Tower and tried to see Loki, Natasha caught her on his floor. She pretended to be lost - completely plausible in the hundred and two story tower - and ended up going down to see Tony for a while, letting him explain that a flexible, durable, titanium metal cooperative serum was being developed for ALF, and she got side tracked for an hour with Science!.

When she went up to see him again, she saw Clint coming at her in the opposite direction, one eyebrow up.

"Lost again, cupcake?"

"Okay, a) Natasha has clearly misread this situation, and b) even if I was here to see He Who We Don't Talk About, I wouldn't be carrying a change of clothes." She studied his sudden resting face, the twitch of fingers into a half fist. "Oh ew, Clint,  _no_. I'm making more cupcakes you loser. I'm trying to make them on this floor so they don't get eaten before they're ready. You can come and do your scary face thing with me if you promise to eat the ugly ones before anyone sees them."

He smirked.

"Yeah, that sounds good."

"Don't you have something better to do with your day then hover around me and my bad decisions?" she bent his arm so she could link her hand over his forearm.

Honestly, Best Forearms in the Tower goes to...

"Sorry?" she looked up at him, blinking stupidly. "I was thinking about your forearms. I didn't hear what you just said."

"Better not let your boyfriend hear that." he teased.

She pulled a face.

"What boyfriend?"

"Buck-eeee." he nudged her with his shoulder. "Talks about you a lot, you know."

"Well, clearly, when I'm one of the only people he ever sees, he's gonna talk about me. That being said - do you think he's... okay, to come down, sometime? Maybe come and see a movie with us or, basically anything then hole up in Steve's apartment?"

"I think he needs a little bit more time." he shrugged. "He's comfortable in the apartment - knows a good few hidey holes with weapons in that makes him feel more in control. More able. He doesn't want to be in unfamiliar, just yet."

The doors to the kitchen slid open for them - thanks, JARVIS - but Darcy was too busy looking up at him, trying to steady her next question enough to sound casual.

"But do you think he's gonna be okay?"

But Clint knew her better than that, knew the subtle cadence in her voice and the sad tilt to her mouth. He'd seen the same look every time a sad animal ad came on the TV.

"You can't adopt this one, cuppy cake." he said, unwinding his arm from hers to pull her in for a brief, side along hug. "Steve's got him in good hands."

"I don't want to adopt James, I want him to be  _okay_."

"Okay enough to take you on a date?" he guessed.

She ducked out from under his wing.

"Okay enough to ride like a mechanical bull."

"Oh." Bruce said, very amused over his coffee. The steam kind of obstructed his face, but the grin that honestly reminded her a little of the Hulk was unmistakable. "That's a very honest sentiment."

"Well I - he - I just - Clint's playing the stupid crush tease game and - I can play it too, Broo." she put hands on hips. "Are you going to eat my cupcakes if I make them?"

One brow rose.

"I get one this time, do I?" he was still entertained. She knew scientist humor. "Because Tony wouldn't stop making noise about it and stopped helping me on one of my experiments to go and get you to make more."

"It wasn't even Tony's cupcake, it was Pepper's. She's so pretty, what the hell is she even made out of?"

"Diamonds." Bruce supplied. "Working as long as she did with Tony has put her under extreme amounts of pressure..."

"Cute." Clint said, grabbing a stool at the end of the counter and perching on it. "I want coffee in my cupcakes, cupcake."

"You'll get what you're given and you'll like it. Got some time, Broo?" she asked. "Because you can eat the ugly cast offs with bird-brain, over there."

Bruce shrugged.

"I can make some time."

* * *

 

She made Clint go and get more supplies to make orange and poppy seed in addition to blue heaven. Clint's coffee cupcakes - chocolate based with a thick, coffee flavored icing - were the first ones to be made. Before he left, while Darcy's back was turned, she heard him murmuring to Bruce. The funny thing about that was, the geneticist didn't leave until Clint had got back, so she didn't get a chance to sneak off to Loki.

She made two batches of blue heaven, which amounted to twenty four, one orange and poppy seed which was twelve, and then two batches of coffee because Clint ate about six of them by himself.

Bruce took one of each and left, thanking her. JARVIS sent Dum-E and ALF up so she could send Tony some, and she separated another twelve for the super soldiers upstairs. She wanted to get some for Loki, but Clint was there, watching her every move. She set the rest up so they wouldn't go stale and asked JARVIS to let Natasha and Pepper know, before Thor.

Clint even followed her up to see James and Steve, when she fully intended to go and give some to Loki.

"I come baring baked goods!" she hollered, before the doors were fully open. "Hope you boys are hungry!"

"For you doll?" James drawled, then strolled around the corner and saw Clint. "What're you doin' here?"

"I came for the cupcakes." Clint said. There was a glitter in his eyes Darcy didn't like, not anything she would willingly name anything good. James shifted, a little uncomfortable, and looked at the platter in Darcy's hands, doing the math.

"You had yours, feathers." She shot at him. "Go away now, I've had my quota of you today."

"Lies. You can never have enough of me." he walked into the kitchen.

Bucky just raised his brow.

"She might not, but I damn well can." he told her, and Clint made an indignant noise. He took a few steps closer, brow coming down, his width blocking her view from the communal area. "You alright, doll?"

She leaned to see where Clint was - deceptively lounging on the couch. There was a sharpness to the flick of his eyes and he was sitting far too still to be any kind of relaxed, and Darcy knew it. She hadn't expected any one to see through the general facade she was putting up, but Bucky was a super sniper and had seen her sleep walking more than once. She tried not to think about how soft and hard he'd been, in between her arms.

"I think he knows I was going to see Loki today." she barely mouthed at him. She swallowed, feeling horribly guilty, and frustrated. "He's been hanging around like a bad smell."

"You want me to kick him out?" he said lowly. "I can get him outta here, you just say the word."

She shrugged one shoulder, gave him a hint of a smile.

"Maybe. I'll let you know. Cupcake?" she lifted the platter.

He eyed them, then sighed, to all appearances sad.

"I'm gonna get so fat. Okay. I'll put the coffee on."

"Make it tea," she said, beaming, motioning to the dark colored cakes on the plate. "These are coffee flavored."

"You're a goddamn dream." he told her easily, and sort of,  _swagged_  into the kitchen.

Her face was red and there was nothing she could do about it. Steve just saw her, the cupcakes, Bucky's self-satisfied gait, then rolled his eyes.

"Buck, quit puttin' the charm on so high and leave the dame alone, would ya?"

"The 1940's are calling, they want their Brooklyn back." Darcy told him, separating the cakes onto the plates. She knew where the mugs were in their apartment - knew what they were likely to keep in the fridge, and knew where all the plates and cutlery were, so setting up the plates was easy.

"Sure." Steve retorted. "See if I give you a hand with him any more."

"I'm a big tough girl who don't need no Captain America. But I'm sorry." she cooed, and lifted a plate at him. "Please take these with my sincerest apologies and kiss me because I'm awesome." she leaned forward, pointing to her cheek, fully expecting him to wussy out.

Steve did not, ducking to peck her cheekbone, grinning when he stood up straight with his cupcakes in hand.

Darcy let that process in her brain for a long minute, then giggled, stupidly, having to hide her smile with both hands. Bucky just rolled his eyes, passing her tea over the counter without her having to remind him for milk and sugar, because he knew how she liked it, at that point.

"Don't let the kid fool you with the big blue eyes and the lashes." Bucky warned, a little belatedly. "He's got more game than he lets on."

"I learned from the best." Steve said, pointing a fork at him. He at least put up the pretense of polite eating with utensils and at the breakfast counter, but Bucky didn't, abandoning the fork and the table to shove a half a cupcake straight into his mouth while sitting wide legged on the couch opposite Clint.

He groaned, forced most of it into one cheek, and nodded.

"That's it, I'm gon' get you t' teach me t' do this. Can't wait around every time I feel like a fuckin' cupcake. How do you even do it so good?" he shoved the rest of it in his mouth, and Darcy laughed, putting his forgotten tea on the coffee table in front of him before taking a seat opposite Clint.

Hawkeye's glare was not unnoticed, just ignored, from the other couch.

"Do you really want to learn?" she asked him, cupping her tea in both hands, curling up to face Bucky, who nodded and chewed and took a slug of tea to wash down the pastry. "It's not super hard, I mean, there are techniques and stuff that makes it easier... little tips and tricks, flavors that compliment each other. That kind of thing."

"Whatever you've got, I want it all." he said, and said it so mildly, but she still had to hide most of her face behind her mug.

"You're terrible." Steve told him. "Darcy, when are you going to let me show you how to punch things properly?"

"Uh..." she considered lying, for half a minute. "So, I had another session with my shrink and she said that what you did was super hardcore and I would be in the, you know. Introductory course, sorta, next week." she sipped her tea.

"I don't like it." Clint mentioned. "But you're gonna do what you want any way."

"Well, these ones are like - they offer these to civilians. It's still hardcore self defense but, not as hard as what you did. They did that cuz you're a hero. Apparently?" she didn't know why Steve and Clint shared a particular look, and didn't have time to analyze it much. Bucky reached over with his human hand and swept back her hair, and it was distracting, to say the least.

"We could do it." he mused. "Between me 'n' Steve."

"And me." Clint said sharply. "I'm here too."

"I've made an appointment already." she defended. "How about if I hate it, I'll come back to you guys?"

There was a pause, and she couldn't figure out why, until Bucky out rightly said:

"They recruit from those classes, Darcy."

"Recruit for what?"

"For SHIELD." Clint muttered. "They recruit agents from the classes - that's why they're open to civilians."

"I'm not gonna be that good." she protested.

"Don't doubt it," Steve suggested. "Because you're a smart girl, Darce, you learn quick. I wouldn't be surprised if you were top of the class in no time."

"Me either." Clint added. "And that's the pool they pick from."

She thought about it, staring at Bucky's face.

"Why do I get the feeling that they weren't going to tell me that if you didn't just do it?"

"Because they weren't." he shrugged. "I hadda lifetime of lyin' and not knowin' things. I'll help where I can."

"Thanks." she said, and scowled at the other two. "Steve, you're a first offender, you're off the hook. But Clint, you can go now."

"Oh, c'mon..."

"No, really, go. You're annoying me."

"I would've told you eventually." he eyed off Bucky's remaining two cupcakes, to which Bucky shoved the blue one in his mouth and made unholy sex noises that made Darcy very distracted, for a long second.

"I don't care. You can leave me alone, okay, I'm not an infant." she shoo'd him. "Go on. Scat."

"Maybe I want to hang out with my fellow sniper and brain washee?"

"Fine." she stood up. "Then _I'll_  go."

"On second thought-..." he said, getting to his feet.

Darcy promptly sat down, eyebrows up.

"How old are you again?"

"Darcy. Cupcake. Give a guy a break. We never hang out anymore."

"No, that's because you've got Natasha to hang out with. Go pester her."

"Ooh, pester." Bucky said, swallowing a mouthful. "You really are in trouble today, Barton."

"Usually am." Clint said, cheerfully."Okay, okay. I'll go. I'm going to go and eat my weight in cupcakes before Thor gets a chance. Look after my girl." he said, casually walking toward the elevator.

"I'm not _your_  girl." she called out after him, and slumped moodily in her chair. "I'm not even his girl."

"You're outta his league." Bucky said around a second mouthful. "What's with the face?" he swallowed, sipped his tea.

"Thought you woulda been happy now he's gone?"

"Guys. He literally meant for you two to look after me while he was gone, waiting on Loki's floor so I don't go and see him without his knowledge. He's onto me." she scowled into her mug. "Now I'm gonna have to deal with him hovering. Hovering Clint is the frickin' worst."

Steve finished one of his cupcakes.

"Loki been doing okay? No more bruises?"

"None from what I can tell. He's doing just fine, aside from being super lonely. I worry he's going to run out of Game of Thrones episodes, or read spoilers online, but he doesn't leave his room any more." she shrugged sadly. "Can't do anything about it when my feathered friend is all, you know. James Bond."

"James Bond," Steve muttered. "The menace."

"The load of shit." Bucky concurred, and shoved half of his last cup cake in his mouth. "Well, while we got you up here, wanna teach me cupcakes?"


	20. Chapter 20

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next update in T-minus 7 hours. :)

Darcy punched in her code and walked into the lab to see Tony having an animated conversation with ALF, brow pinched, wide eyed, with mad-scientist hair sticking out at all ends instead of his usual greasy do.

"-and in conjunction with your hydraulic system it shouldn't have had any problem with thickness or friction and I only made it temporary and I think it's that compound that's made it do that thing so you should hypothetically be fine."

"Sure?" ALF sounded far from reassured.

"I'm sure." So did Tony.

"How sure?"

"Eighty per cent. High eighties, low nineties. You're gonna be fine."

"But not tell Dar-cee?"

"No, no, it's fine, we'll just-"

"What did you do?" she put hands on hips.

It was funny, seeing Tony swivel with his hands up in surrender, almost matching ALF, who did the same. They stared at her - stupidly looking the same, wide eyed and kinda guilty. She naturally pulled out her phone and took a photo, snickering at the resulting image.

"Darcy." Bruce said, in full lab coat and gloves and protective glasses and all. "I have some bad news, and some good news."

"What?" she looked at Tony, who ducked his head, rubbing the back of his neck. ALF didn't move other than to nervously roll back on his wheels, little claw hands still up in surrender. "Something you weren't gonna tell me?"

"Good news is it's temporary." Tony said, in his defense. "He's gonna be fine."

She blinked. Once. Twice.

"ALF?" she said.

ALF rolled forward.

"Dar-cee?"

"What happened?"

He shuddered but didn't otherwise move, hydraulics whirring and something making a loud clunk.

"Water proo?" he said, almost timid. There was a pause, and he shook, rolling backward as fast as his wheels would take him. "Tony did!"

"I did not! I did. But it was standard testing, and it shouldn't last long. It's basically super glue. But, temporary super glue, I'm gonna fix it, he's gonna be fine."

"Breathe," Bruce reminded her. "Count to ten. Think of happy-"

"YOU SUPER GLUED MY BABY INTO A STATUE?"

ALF hid under a desk. Tony looked like he was going to follow.

"It's temporary... I think."

"DID YOU SUPER GLUE MY-?! WHAT DO YOU MEAN, 'YOU  _THINK_ '?! OH MY GOD I'M GOING TO KILL YOU. I FED YOU CUPCAKES YOU- YOU-... _YOU_!" her finger stabbing was getting pretty violent, jabbing him in the chest so hard he sat down, hands still up. "AND YOU WEREN'T EVEN GONNA TELL ME OH MY GOD YOU GOT MY BOT SON NOT TO TELL ME TOO! STOP CORRUPTING MY BOT, TONY!"

"Breathe," Bruce said again, although through all his laughter he should've been taking his own advice. "Darcy, you have to-  _breathe_."

"AND YOU LET HIM GET INTO THIS SHENANIGAN!" she yelled at Bruce, who just tried to hide his smile behind his hand. "SEE IF I FEED YOU ANYMORE!"

"Okay, woah, let's not be crazy." Tony waved his hands at her. "The coffee cupcakes were out of this world, you're brilliant, please don't not feed me."

"FEED YOURSELF. FEED YOURSELF AFTER YOU FIX MY BOT." she turned on her heel, equal parts worried and angry, but also kind of proud at how Bruce (the actual man-shell for his friendly green giant) scampered out of her way. "IF IT'S NOT DONE IN AN HOUR I'M GETTING THOR TO MAKE HOME REPAIRS IN YOUR LAB."

There was a pause, while JARVIS opened the door for her so she had time to spin around at glare at the resident mechanic, and little ALF hiding behind a table leg.

"WITH HIS HAMMER!"

Tony winced.

"Darcy, it's Science!, sometimes it-"

"FIX IT. ONE HOUR."

And she stormed out again.

In her rampant storming, she didn't actually realize that she'd wound up in front of Loki's door. And no one was there, everything was good, so she opened it and shoved it open, just about to start loudly complaining about crazy Tony Stark and how Clint was hovering and it was the worst...

When she saw him. Putting on make up.

For a second, she had the fleeting thought:

_Hang on, that's not fair, he's already so pretty..._

But then she saw that the make up was dark, and the sponge in his hand was actually mottling bruise like contusions on his face. On the laptop in front of him, a YouTube make up tutorial was playing, much to the silence on the room.

"...So if you blot with your sponge you get an awesome stippled affect, make it look like kinda old bruising, too. If you move out and drag it, kinda drag it down as you go..."

"Uhm." She said. "Are you painting your face to look like my friends beat you up?"

He blinked, twice.

"Yes." he said slowly.

She nodded.

"Did you do it last time I thought you were really hurt?"

He wet his lip.

"Yes, I did."

And the thing about Darcy was that she'd been  _very annoyed_  with Tony for his robot mutilating shenanigans. But it was superficial; she had no doubt he'd fix ALF and be done by the time she got back.

Except that Darcy's real anger was absolute silence.

And she stared at him for ages, until the video stopped playing. The bruise he'd been painting on was high on his cheekbone, artfully blended out at the edges, real enough looking that she almost wanted to console him again. She took in a big breath, nodding to herself, and watched him raise into standing.

"Darcy-"

She turned around and walked out.

"Wait, wait, Darcy I didn't mean-"

She took the stairs, feeling the elevator wasn't going to be fast enough.

"Please, the first time was an accident -"

They both ran, up the stairs, him stumbling and falling after her, managing to grab her t-shirt for a split second.

"I didn't mean-"

But she tore out of his hand, literally ripped her shirt from his desperately grasping fingers, and put on an extra burst of energy to escape his very long legs and arms. She didn't even ask JARVIS, but he opened the door to Steve's shared apartment anyway, slamming it nearly shut on Loki. Unluckily, he darted around it and snatched up her arm with more flesh than shirt, so she couldn't get away. She shook violently, shoved at his shoulder, baring her teeth.

"Darcy?"  _Steve_.

She shoved at Loki's arm, swung her hand and smacked his hand, but he still didn't let go.

"I didn't mean it - the first time, it was an accident, I swear -"

"Let her go." Steve said, objectively calm, stepping between them, catching Darcy's next smack before it could land on Loki's face. "Let her go, Loki."

Loki looked up at him, releasing her arm.

"It was a mistake," he told the Captain. "She must know. I didn't mean for it to evolve."

"Alright. Alright, I'll handle it. Darcy - Darce. Come on." she struggled until he let her arm go, then whirled and turned bodily to avoid touching Bucky on the way through, her breathing so loud it was all she could hear as she walked into the elevator and mashed her floor repeatedly.

A silver arm prevented the doors from shutting - and although JARVIS appeared to keep trying to close it shut, human fingers curled around the side and pulled it open, just enough to wedge his shoulders through. He shimmied in, fell against the back, and looked at her, still pushing the button as fast as her hand would allow her.

He was barefooted, hair half up, half down, somewhat oily strands framing his serious brows and frowning mouth. He looked, honestly, like he'd just rolled out of bed, in loose shorts and a tight shirt.

She kept stabbing the button with viciousness until the doors flung apart, JARVIS, maybe, anticipating that she would bolt as soon as they cracked open. Bucky just followed, close enough she could feel him, feel his heavy heat and hear his easy breathing, and but not touching.

She bypassed Bruce, bypassed Natasha, both of them jumping to their feet.

"What's going on?" Bruce said, eyes darting between them.

"Barnes!" Natasha barked.

Darcy didn't even pause her stride, reaching back to snatch Bucky's hand.

"He's with me." she bit back, and without much choice to leave him out to the wolves, bought him into her apartment, shutting the door and locking it, twice. Then she punched it, because she had angry feelings - she must've punched it pretty hard, because the light above it started flickering.

And then she punched it again, because somehow the physical pain in her hand was lesser than the one in her chest, and somehow having that to focus on was good.

Except when she tried to punch it a third time, and Bucky's human hand closed over her wrist, his arm hanging heavily over hers. He stopped the other one, too, his metal fingers more delicate on her skin than if she were made of glass. He turned her carefully, weaving her around without ever letting go, until she faced him with her arms crossed over her chest, his head tipped to the side so he could see her eyes.

He unfolded her fingers - which made her knuckles creak - and then refolded them again, putting both her fists up to his chest, hands straightening out her forearms, up to her elbows, before he put them down by his sides.

"Hit here," he said quietly. "It'll hurt less."

But she didn't want to hit him, so she shook her head.

Her fingers uncurled, bright red knuckles glowing back at her. Oddly, she could feel his heart beating, feel the stitches and raised scars where his arm met shoulder. She wet her lips, feeling oddly calm, even with all the emotional turmoil going on, even managing to be slightly annoyed that the lights wouldn't stop flickering above her head.

She couldn't look at him. Couldn't make herself look at him, smoothing careful fingers over his chest, pressing just enough that she felt the outline of nipples through cotton. She put her hands under her pits, hunching in around herself, eyes going to the floor.

"Anything you want, Darcy." he muttered. "Tell me what to do."

She shrugged, stepped around him, went and sat heavily on the couch. She could feel herself shutting off, closing down. One by one, all her multiple processes exited, and she found herself focusing only on what she now realized.

Of course, he'd lied. It was what he did. And she'd seen him, the day after the big beat up - split lips didn't heal so quickly. She was stupid not to have mentioned it then.

Bucky kind of, eased down beside her, took one of her hands, and carefully held an ice pack against the redness in her knuckles. He looked at her face, still frowning.

"Did he touch you?" he said, voice thick and dangerous around the edges.

She shook her head.

He visibly relaxed, but was still alert.

"Did he say somethin' nasty?"

Again, she shook her head.

"Not gonna talk to me, are ya?"

She looked at him, blinked twice, then looked back in front of her and kept thinking.

Of course, he'd lied. And she'd believed him, because why wouldn't she? It was what she did. She should've known better than to trust anyone with cheekbones like his. She should've known better than to go against Clint, who'd never, ever do anything to hurt her. For a while, her brain went static.

"Hey, baby girl."

Tony.

In her apartment, sitting on the table in front of her.

When had he got there?

She wrapped her hand around Bucky's, didn't care if it were human or metal. She was kinda numb from the ice he'd put on her knuckles. She blinked, focused on him, the Iron Man suit assembled around his person. Felt it humming with energy, the electronics loud in the otherwise quiet of the room.

"Just before I go and beat up Thor to kill his brother, did you want to tell me why?"

She took a second.

"Nothing? Okay, good." he seemed satisfied as he got to his feet. "You stay here, Tin Man, guard my kid with your life. I'm gonna go Hulk on his skinny -"

"Wait." Clint said, putting his hand on Darcy's shoulder to give her a quick shake before replacing it on his bow. "Darce? C'mon. You're not gonna let the guy get his head caved in. As much as I'd love it, you're not like that, cuppy cake. Speak up. C'mon."

She glared at him.

"That's good enough for me." Tony said brightly. "I'll record it if you like-"

"Darcy." Clint said more firmly. "Grown ups use words, remember? None of this silent treatment bullshit right now, okay?"

"Let her do what she likes." Tony scoffed. "Clearly, the fucker has done something bad to her and I'm going to kill him. Now kindly take your arrow off my posterior gauges, Hawkass, I've got backups to spare here."

"Darcy." Clint said, and shook her once.

Bucky made a noise like growling.

"Leave her alone."

"Use your words." Clint said, ignoring both of them, which was some kind of feat, considering the way that Iron Man's shoulders opened without command to target tank missiles on the archer's wrist and forearm, or the way Bucky's metal fingers moved impatiently under Darcy's hand, clicking all the way up into his shoulder, literally gearing up to fight.

"I'm going to kill him, see ya later." Tony said brightly, and turned to leave.


	21. Chapter 21

Loki wasn't surprised that Thor was still thrumming with boundless energy, still in his battle armor and still by his side.

What surprised him was that Steve, after listening to his explanation, also took up his shield and stood to defend him in arms with his bro-... With Thor.

But the third, and biggest surprise yet, was when Tony Stark came in without his suit on, only Loki's laptop. He put it on the table in front of him, opened the screen, and made a movie play.

It was an apartment similar to his, with Darcy and some kind of metal armed man sitting side by side.

"I'm going to kill him, see ya later." said the Iron Man himself, walking away from her.

Hawkeye was bent to speak lowly, urgently, both hands on his weapon and aimed at the Iron Man.

"Darcy, I  _know_  you're friends with the guy, I know what kind of person you are, with your heart the size it is. I know you'll regret it if he gets hurt-"

"I'm not going to hurt him," Tony interrupted, one of his suit legs apparently malfunctioning, making him jerk and twist to try and lift it from the floor. "I'm going to kill him."

The Tony standing beside Loki shifted as though he still felt inclined, and the Trickster was ever more grateful for the Captain's shield, and Thor's hammer.

"Speak up, Darce." Clint said, and took aim at Iron Man as he made to leave and do the deed. A sweat broke on Loki's forehead, but the Iron Man armor once again misbehaved, a foot getting locked into place when he next tried to step. "You're not gonna let your friend get killed. And I  _know_  - and you know I know what you look like when someone hurts your feelings - and this is the 'hurt feelings' face. She's fine." he was tense, all sharp lines, clearly not liking what he was saying.

"Our definitions of 'fine' are not the same." Tony retorted.

Loki privately agreed.

"She's thinking." he went on, and Loki wondered how good a friend the Hawk was to the Midgardian girl, to have her studied so well. He wondered if the little human man had ever earned her silence to know. He surmised not... And felt insurmountable guilt that he had. "Give her a minute."

There was a full minute and a half of silence, of clicking noises from the man's metal arm, and the Iron Man suit constantly adjusting as the man wearing it shifted from foot to foot. Loki had never seen such a serious look upon his face; which was concerning, since only a few years prior had he engaged in war with the man.

"You don't gotta say a thing, doll." the metal armed man said. It started off easy, friendly. But the tone he took on was deadly and dangerous, softened only by the small endearment. "But if he hurt you, you just nod your head, darlin', and Stark's gonna go shoot his head off."

"I'll technically relocate his bone mass. He's gonna be jelly. Painful jelly." Tony said easily. "It's new tech. I thought it was an appropriate test run. But jelly goes splat, so. After I figure out what my new toy actually does-"

"The people I love always lie to me." Darcy said. The film crackled, momentarily going to snow, like the recording was bad. "And I didn't expect it, but I should probably know better." She sounded - even. Very level headed. The film wound back in to crystal clear sharpness, and Loki could see that the Hawk had been right - she was, for lack of a better term, buffering, the way his videos sometimes did on his laptop.

_...The people I love always lie to me..._

She loved him?

"I don't lie to you." the man with the metal arm offered.

"She doesn't love you." Iron Man snapped.

She huffed like a bothered horse.

"Tony, don't kill him. He just - it doesn't -... It's fine. I'm just - I'm just... I thought I was smart enough to see... I don't know why I thought that, maybe... just maybe, there was a decent person, under it all." The noise he could hear, there was a high chance it was his own heart shattering. "I think I  _am_ stupid."

There were loud, abrupt protests from both Avengers, but the metal armed man just shook his head very slowly.

"Well I must be." she snapped, and looked up at the Hawk. The film waved, the whole image distorting for a long second. "Because this  _keeps happening to me._ "

"What does?" Iron Man said quickly. "Who's done what? When? Give me names-"

"Darce." the Hawk said shortly, cutting through the man's mounting tirade. "Cup cake. Baby. You aren't stupid. I told you once, I'll tell you again - it's that big heart beatin' too loud. You can't adopt all of the puppies, sweetheart, no matter how hurt they are and how much they'd love you and how good you can fix them." he pointedly looked at the man with the metal arm, who was too busy looking at Darcy to notice.

"I didn't want to  _adopt_  him." she snarled, and Loki could feel the absolute heat rolling off of her tiny frame. "I wanted to be his friend. I wanted him to be okay. I wanted him to show his stupid fucking father what he was worth - I wanted him to exceed expectations! I wanted him to be happy. I wanted him to be content."

He felt ice cold all over, small and shamed in ways he had never felt before. He should've told the truth to her - the make up was false, but the attack had been real. Her care of his injuries had just... made him feel.

 _I wanted to be his friend. I wanted him to be content_.

She  _loved_  him.

"Doll, need ya to listen to me." The stranger muttered. "He ain't worth your worries. He ain't worth you anger. He ain't worth punchin' things, alright?"

Loki agreed, and put both hands up to his mouth holding in all the apologies he wanted to say. It wouldn't work - videos didn't work like that.

Darcy looked at him, then, the metal hand linked with hers, up to his face. He was thick, built wide, with angular features and intense eyes. There was a small quirk to his lip that looked like he was trying to smile, but Loki could see it was false.

"Why does it  _keep happening to me_?" she whispered. "Why do I trust anyone?... It just hurts."

"I know, sweetheart." his human hand touched her brow, swept hair behind her ear, lingered on her cheekbone. His thumb swiped - and at first Loki thought it was affection, but no. She was crying. "Want me to beat him up for you?"

"No." she reclined into the couch, looking small and tired in ways that made Loki's heart sink into his stomach. "I don't want anyone to hurt him, any more. He's already damaged enough."

She explained what had happened, his lie, his make up, thinking the worst of both Clint and Tony. Iron Man said nothing, but the Hawk owned it - telling her that yes, they did beat him up a little bit, but not as much as she thought, and it was only the once when he had been sneaking around at all hours of the night.

She eased into the metal armed man's side, putting her head on his shoulder.

"Well, even if that's no excuse for physical harm," she sighed, and smiled. But Loki knew what her real smiles were like, and the one on her mouth was the filthiest of lies. "It's good to know that when my feelings get hurt, a bunch of pretty superheros come to defend my honor, or whatever."

"Let's be honest," the man put his metal appendage up behind her head so she could more easily fit against his side. "I'm the prettiest one here."

Tony leaned over and hit a button that made the movie stop playing. Loki took his hands from his mouth and folded them in his lap. He felt chastised, but the man had yet to speak a word.

Tony held up a single finger at him.

"You get one more chance." was his only warning. "And with or without her permission, between your brother and Captain Spandex, come hell or high water, I will get to you, and I will end you. You get  _one more chance_ , Loki." the use of his actual name clued him into the fact that he was in quite a serious predicament.

"Just.  _One._  You hurt Darcy again, you're a dead man."

"Fair." he said softly, but found that his silver tongue had turned to stone in his mouth, and couldn't speak another word.

"Good." he walked past both big blonde men, and left the room.

Loki thought he'd be escorted to his room to preside in solitary once more, but instead, the Captain said: "Milk or sugar?" and offered him a cup of tea.

* * *

Darcy opened her eyes to find her head nursed in the curve of James' shoulder and metal arm. His human fingers were lightly stroking the back of her hand, the one resting on his chest, right above his heart. She shifted, blinked, and lifted her eyes to his. He was smiling softly, eyes studying her.

"Feel better?" he asked, low.

"Mm." she sat more fully, looking around, hand still lazily on his chest. He made no effort to take his hand from hers, nor did she. "Always sleep good when you're around."

"What?" Clint, in the kitchen, eyebrows up. "Since when?"

And at that point in time, Darcy  _really_  didn't care what Clint had to say. She was angry with him, angry with Tony, hurt by Loki. If they hadn't been such abusive pricks, maybe the whole scenario could've been avoided. So she pointedly did not speak to him, curling her hand around James' fingers and pulling him into standing.

"If he follows us," she said quietly. "I'm going to punch him in the face, so be prepared for abrupt and useless violence."

"Usually am." he said, and lightly squeezed her fingers, allowing himself to be lead away.

Maybe Clint got the hint, but he stayed where he was. Darcy had the idea that he'd be still in her kitchen area when she got back. James linked there fingers, giving her a small, sly smile when she glanced at him. It made her feel warm all over, that he made that effort, and they wandered all around the tower, hand in hand, not really talking, just wondering.

They wound up at the labs, where only Bruce was working. And somehow, he very casually started explaining the basics of genetics and took her blood to tell her what blood type she was and such. There was a moment when he saw something, making a low humming noise, but didn't mention why.

Darcy didn't care, because James was winding his fingers in hers again and asking if she wanted to decorate the batch of cupcakes he'd made that morning, and it sounded like the best use of time she could possibly waste, ever, so she said yes, and please.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Good news! Just finished the plan for the whole story, so all the loose ends are tied up and sorted.   
> Bad news! Now I've got to write it. ;)


	22. Chapter 22

In Darcy's dream, Bucky was making coffee. He had an infinite counter made up of steaming hot beverages, and was passing them, one by one, to the other side. He only used his artificial hand, but every time he spilled a drop, it melted him, marring the arm until it was dripping like wax right down to the elbow.

But he wasn't looking, so he didn't know.

ALF rolled up to him, let the solider balance a cup on his head... on his new sensor... and promptly tipped it off, letting it shatter on the floor.

Bucky stopped moving, looking down at the little robot, eyebrows raised.

"Bad touch!" ALF said, sounding offended. "Buck-ee, that's  _bad_  touch! Can you feel?"

Bucky looked at his metal hand, half melted. He said something totally irrelevant and the dream warped, but Darcy had the image of him being hurt imprinted into her eyelids when she stirred.

It was three in the morning, she was on the couch in Tony's lab, an old t-shirt draped over her by U.

"JARVIS?" she said thickly.

"Yes?"

"Tony in the land of the living?"

"No, Miss. Should I wake him?"

She shook her head, muffled a yawn in her hand, looking around, half in a daze.

"Is Bucky awake?"

"No, Miss, he is not. Captain Rogers is, though. Shall I get his attention for you?"

Again she shook her head, then sat up, blindly swiping her arms through the air.

"'M gonna need a something to write an idea down." she said, and a screen filled her immediate vision, momentarily blinding her.

"This would be Sir's Midnight Genius program. Is there anything specific you needed?"

"Yeah." it took her a second to articulate. "Throw up the sensory receptors in the lab bots and give me the schematics I know Tony has of James' arm."

* * *

Tony had barely woken up, having wondered into the kitchen for some caffeine, when Darcy flew past with a manic grin and the Midnight Genius holographic screen following behind her. She bolted in, saw him, and skidded, looking like she hadn't slept but like something had definitely happened.

"Princess." he acknowledged.

"I've had ideas." she grinned, and pointed at him. "You're gonna be impressed."

"Your ideas always do the trick." he blamed is sleepy brain to mouth filter.

"I'm gonna need your help."

"Whatever you like, kid."

"Also, Dr. Banner."

"I'll talk to him."

She beamed at him.

"You're the best."

"I know."

And she took off in a run, sending a copy of her rambling back at him. JARVIS helpfully downloaded it onto the tablet he usually read over snack break, and Tony looked at it - then really looked at it, because, how did he not think of this first?

He glanced at the stairway doors she'd disappeared behind.

"That's my girl." he said into his cup, and took a seat by the counter, privately smiling to himself as he read through her specs.

* * *

The knocking at the stairway door was urgent, staccato like gunfire, which is why Steve didn't bother putting on a shirt.

But it was just Darcy, breathing hard, lit up and glowing and sleep mussed but still wide awake. There was a glowing screen hanging over her shoulder - JARVIS, he guessed.

"What's going on?" he said, a little bewildered. "Is it Loki?"

"Bucky?" she said, and rushed in.

Steve reflexively ducked under the holograph, regardless of it actually being able to hit him.

"Come on in." he told the back of her head. "Buck's in the shower. Can I help-?"

"Bucky!" she went into his room, knocked on the bathroom room. "Bucky, I was dreaming about you last night!"

There was a pause, then:

"What else is new?" from inside.

"I'm pretty sure I can make your metal arm feel things again. Maybe not entirely like new, but, I can still make it feel." she took a breath, leaned heavily against the door frame, and added in an afterthought: "If you want."

There was a pause.

The door opened, shower still going, Bucky dripping wet with a towel around his waist. Half hair hair was steam damp and sticking to his face and neck, but the rest was up in a loose knot at the top of his head. He was staring at her, expression something like hope, something like trepidation.

"What do you mean, you can make it feel?" he said, rough. "D'you mean you? Or do you mean Stark?"

"Uhm, Tony'll probably help and I'm definitely going to need Broo to supervise but - me. I just - I was dreaming. And look." she showed him the holograph depicting his arm, showing how her program could be integrated with his existing system and make him receptory to touch. "Because, I did the bots downstairs, so it's basically written for tech already there, not to have any negative affects; and it buffers and compresses like a champ because - well, mostly JARVIS. Did you want me to round up my Science gang and get it going?"

He looked through the projection at her, never once taking his eyes off her face.

"You supervise it." he said mildly. "And I'll be inclined."

"Okay." she took a second, shifting her weight from foot to foot, chest heaving. She was near thrumming with energy, vibrating in place. "I'm - I just - I wanna do something good for you."

His smile was the right kind of predatory, especially since he was wearing lots of shower water and a towel.

"You do plenty for me." he mused, and eased back into the bathroom. "Go Science! with your friends. I'll come down later."

"Okay." she breathed, then sort of - lunged, wrapped both arms around his wet midsection and smashed her face against his slippery chest, before popping off with a quick: "Good talk see you later bye!"

The soldiers looked at each other.

"I didn't so much as get a second glance." Steve motioned to his chest. "Been a while since that happened."

"Guess it's my outfit." Bucky was tracking her movements, as if he could see her through the walls. "That dame's... something special."

"No kidding." Steve mused, then grinned naughtily to himself. "Maybe she doesn't like blondes. Because ever since I got these..." he flexed his pecs and arms at Bucky, who rolled his eyes so hard they were in danger of being stuck looking at his brain.

"S'not about that. S'all about what's inside." he lowered his lashes. "Or maybe she's an ass girl."

Steve scoffed.

"Yeah, I got one of those too, jerk."

"Not as good as mine, punk."

"I'd beg to differ." Steve said, shutting the door behind him, a particular swing to his step.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Updating later today! :D


	23. Chapter 23

Bruce had long since stopped being subtle when his temper tantrums started being green.

"You share phenotypes." he said mildly. "Aside from other inherited physicalities. How long did you think it would take me to notice?"

Tony wasn't easily scared, not after everything he'd been through. But the idea that he would be found out as a father,  _that_  had made him more nervous than anything - aside from maybe, the wormhole.

And honestly, he had expected Bruce to notice, because clearly he was no academic slouch. But he didn't expect him to prod about it.

So, like an adult, Tony pretended not to hear him, and went on fiddling with wires in suddenly clammy hands.

"I think you're a carrier for the X-gene," Bruce went on. "Because I know Darcy's ability with computers and electronics isn't entirely natural, and I think it's inherited from your side of her genetic code."

"She's just a smart girl," he muttered, not bothering to lift his eyes. "And JARVIS is a good teacher."

"No." Bruce said simply. He leaned his hip against Tony's desk, patiently waiting for Tony to look at him. Possibly sensing that he would be waiting a while, he went on. "Tony, her robot. ALF. He's advanced, even for you. He is a learning, adaptive entity, he enquires, he asks questions, has his own thought processes. He develops."

"So does JARVIS."

"But this is Darcy's first attempt." he pointed out. "And you told me you didn't help her, and even if she is yours, I know you wouldn't let her poke around in JARVIS's code-"

"She's not _mine_." he said, flat. "Haven't you heard her? Clint's her father figure. Go away."

"I want to run the test on you." Bruce told him. "To see if you've got the gene."

Tony had opened his mouth to reply, and this time, it wouldn't be so subtle as 'go away'.

Darcy was there, beaming, on the other side of the glass. For a split second, he thought maybe she'd heard it, heard everything they'd said, the casual admittance of her parentage. But she didn't, waltzing into the lab and first going to inspect Bruce's microscopes.

"Oh, okay, that means precisely nothing to me." she told them lightly, lifting her face to them. "What are the squishy things doing in your slides, Broo?"

Bruce sighed.

"Those are some of the micro beads injected into Bucky's artillery system - ball bearings that make the internal logistics run smoothly. I'm working on manufacturing a more organic compound so that it'll be less effort on his knock-off version of the serum to heal."

She blinked, let that register.

"You're the actual best." she said, very seriously, and walked around the table to pull herself up onto Tony's workbench, peering at the mess of wires between his hands. "The hell is that?"

He shrugged, handed it to her. She began to fiddle, stealing a pair of needle nosed pliers, tongue adorably pinched between her teeth.

"Come down for a reason, kiddo?"

"Oh, yeah. I had my first session with SHIELD on punching things and wanted to tell you about it." if she noticed Bruce giving her a long look as he walked back to his desk, she didn't acknowledge it. "Turns out it was a half hour of talking about feelings and then we filled out some non-disclosure agreements. I'm bored and I wanted to see how the thing for Bucky was doing - can I borrow a soldering iron?"

Tony passed her a pair of gloves and the required instrument, glowering at Bruce, who politely averted his eyes.

"So, here's the thing." he said to the girl. "While we're in there, we want to dismantle the worst of the system. That whole arm is weighing him down, it's pulling on muscles. Plus, the way they've got it attached is actually sorta brilliant and I want to see what they did to maybe replicate it. I've got R&D working on a prototype, lightweight, touch screen base that we'll replace it with."

She looked up, squinting from the wires in her lap.

"You're taking the whole arm off?"

"Yes. And before you ask, I talked Barnes. He said to ask you." his eyebrows went up. "Are you two a thing? Is that something that's happening in my tower? Romance?"

"He just trusts me." she fixed him with a wide eyed, little girl lost look, the gloves far too big on her hands and hanging loose. He absently wrote a memo to himself to get ones that fitted her properly. "Tony, that's really scary, you taking off the whole arm and the system. I thought we were just, like... Adding touch screens."

"We're taking precautions." he informed her. "I wouldn't do it if I didn't have a hundred per cent certainty that he'd be okay. Not even a fraction of me is concerned."

"But -" her brows pulled together in the middle, creating lines in her forehead he wanted to smooth away with promises and earn a smile. She started to fiddle with the wires, melding point to point, in a pace that denoted years of work, not simple brilliance. He shut his eyes against it, focused on her face as she continued to speak. "What if his version of the serum has like, adapted to it? Or, what if there's a necessary part of the mechanics linked to his brain, or... something?"

"There will be eyes on his brain." Bruce told her. "And there isn't. The technology connects to his vertebrae, linking directly to where the nerves in his arm used to be. His serum did adapt, did weld, the two, for lack of a better word."

"I know he's your... friend." Tony reminded her. "I wouldn't hurt him. A lot. Not really."

"He's had enough of being hurt." she said, a little desperately, staring at him. "How are we going to - how are you going to make him not feel it? Are you going to make an anesthetic? What if you can't put him under? What if his serum doesn't - oh, god, what if you have to do it on him and he's awake? If you have to do that, don't do it."

Tony, very carefully, took the wires and tools from her hands, where they'd been fretting on the board non stop, despite her watching Iron Man the entire time. There was a moment where he put his hands over hers on the gloves and gave a tiny, reassuring squeeze, then he was putting the iron away and setting the wires on the table beside her.

"I won't." he said, and the relief that washed over her face made him crack a smile. "We're working on it, kid, and we won't stop until we are a hundred per cent. No shortcuts. No variables unaccounted."

She blinked at him, popped down from the desk, and gave him a quick hug around the waist. So quick, his hands did an awkward linger about her person before he could set them down on her and return it.

She bounced away, pink faced, eyes very shiny, muttering something about having a shower.

"Don't." Tony warned Bruce. "Don't say it."

"I wasn't going to." Bruce said evenly. "But she is more and more like you, every day."

"I thought you weren't going to say it."

"I wasn't before you told me not to." Bruce shrugged. "You're wearing off on me."

* * *

"I want to punch things, and I want you to teach me." she said in greeting. She'd been rehearsing on the way up, so she couldn't screw herself over, stick her foot in her - "Also, I wanna get you sweaty and maybe touch you a lot." _Crap_.

"We don't gotta go to the gym for that, sweetheart." Bucky said, smile curling slowly on his mouth. He inclined his head, inviting her into the apartment. "But I'll get my gear."

"Let me do your hair?" she said, hardly cringing, which was an improvement.

"Yeah, alright." he glanced over his shoulder, eyes alight. "Gimme a minute."

She fiddled with the laces on her hoodie, made sure they were at least vaguely the same length. What would the super assassin deduce about her if he saw uneven hoodie strings? Really. Never mind the rest of her general person and the sleepwalking fiasco that was her current life - she didn't want to know what he could tell by someone's hoodie strings, and didn't want to chance it.

His, for example, were on par perfectly. Or, they could've been, because she was mostly staring at  _everything else in the spanx._

"Needa band?" he held out a hair elastic to her, the curl on his lip incredibly naughty.

"I'm gonna need you to sit." she eyed his head, which seemed so high up. She'd actively have to climb him to put her mouth on his mouth. And that mental image made her lady bits sing happy songs, so she swallowed and tried to make the words do the thing. "Please?"

"Sure." He sat easily on the couch, both arms propping up on the back. "Gotta say, the last dame to play with my hair was my kid sister tryn'a figure out how to do her curls properly."

"Was it ever this long?" she combed her fingers through the tips, then worked her way up, scooping the part that had been stuffed down the back of his shirt in her hand. It was thick, silky smooth to touch, and smelt exactly like a handful of nicely washed man hair. Yum.

"Back in the day? Nah. Never. Wasn't ever this smooth, either."

"Did I say that out loud?"

"No. But you're pettin' it a lot." he tilted his head back, looked up at her, wickedly grinning. "Havin' fun?"

"Not when you tease me, I'm not." she mumbled. She chewed on her lip, turned his head down, and threaded fingers through his hair a little more carefully. "I know -... I know I seem like it, when you're around, but... I'm not a dummy. I know things. Smart things. And I'm really independent and tough, and all that."

"You think I think you're a dummy?" he turned back around to face her, actively turning in his seat, with a smile that had softened, no smaller, but certainly kinder. "No girl who can put touch-tech in my arm is a dummy. I know you're smart, pretty girl. You keep up with Jane, and Stark, for chrissake."

"It's still hard for me to do that, though, and apparently I can't Science! unless I'm half asleep or bust." she retorted, turning his head back to face forward. "I can't... Think, around you. Your face - ... you make me stupid."

"Relax." he said, reclining. "I don't bite."

She didn't even pause.

"Yeah, but I do."

His head tipped back fast enough that his neck cracked, one brow up. With her fingers in his hair, kind of hovering over him, she licked her lips and tried not to think about all the situations in which she could bite Bucky. Like... She  _tried_.

"That so?" he drawled, eyes going to her mouth, watching her tongue dart out to wet the seam of her lips. "Well. I heal pretty quick these days, so feel free to bite hard as you like."

She gulped, steered his head up, and finger-combed his hair some more, mouth dry.

"I'm not gonna be able to punch anything." she grumbled.

"You're gonna do fine." he said casually, like she wasn't having southerly hot flashes and thinking about riding him like a bull. He sighed, more a purr, really, when she lightly scratched nails against his scalp, and relaxed a little into the couch.

"What are you two doing? I hear noises." Steve said, as he walked through the room. "Do I need to close my eyes?"

"No, they aren't doing anything yet." Clint flipped down from the vents.

"Fuck's sake." Bucky muttered. "You were right, Darce. Hovering Clint is the worst."

"Hey, I'm just keepin' an eye on things. Sometimes I need to keep an eye on them from the ceiling. Quietly. And without warning." he flopped onto the couch beside him, giving Darcy a long, knowing side eye. "Why don't you ever play with my hair?"

"Bucky has nice hair." she said stiffly. "And it smells good."

She could actively feel the super solider preening under her fingertips.

"Clint," Steve said, a little firmly. "Do you not think that spying on your housemates is-"

"A constitutional blasphemy?" he guessed.

"...Really annoying?" he finished. "We get enough of that from Tony and JARVIS. Is there a chance you could stop spying on us?"

"I don't spy on you. You guys are a consequence of prior spying." he leaned back to prod Darcy in the arm, where she was twisting Bucky's hair into a careful hobo-chic bun. "I liked the pep-talk."

The pep-talk involving a lot of outfit changing, swearing, and general chatter to herself about how a girl with tits like hers should not have a problem getting a guys with tits like Bucky's.

"I'm learning to punch things." she reminded him. "Don't give me a target so early."

"Please, you punch me as you like anyway."

"Yeah, but not properly!"

"That'll change." Bucky drawled, and lifted his human hand to feel his hair. "Nice. Thanks, doll."

"You're welcome." she smiled for him, then turned her nose up at Clint, who just snorted. "Alright. Punching things. Let's go."


	24. Chapter 24

When Clint saw that yes, at least Captain America was there to ensure that Darcy didn't get laid, he tried to turn tail and wonder away with a casual: "I'll leave you guys to it."

"Oh no," Darcy spun on him, pointing at him like she was actively trying to stab a hole into the ozone. He was the biggest, meanest, nosiest bird she knew, he was gonna get _punched_. "Poor Steve's not gonna have any one to punch if you go away. Stay where you are."

"Oh, you are in trouble." Steve mused. "C'mon Clint. We'll have a friendly spar."

"Yeah, friendly." Clint muttered, and went to get the mats.

She felt pretty proud of herself, giving Steve the - 'don't-you-go-easy-on-him' eyes, to which he replied with the: 'ma'am-I-wouldn't-dream-of-it' grin.

"Okay. Let's go, tough stuff." she clapped her hands, looking at Bucky and winding her hair up into a pony tail. She'd opted for the fancy workout, sweat absorbent, sucky-inny tank, the one that did excellent things to the girls, particularly with her arms up.

Bucky's tongue darted out to wet his bottom lip, but his eyes stayed firmly fixed on her face. Although the slowly spreading grin let her know that he was probably very aware of the twins, what with peripheral vision, and all.

"How much do you know?" he said, low.

Darcy turned to observe when Clint hit the mat for the first time, grinning.

"Uhm, I've never really punched someone before. Except for that door fiasco thing. Of which you were there for, to see me punch it repeatedly." she looked back at him to see how close he'd gotten, the half smirk on his mouth. "Oh wow, you're super close to me right now."

"That a problem?" he said, flashing his teeth at her.

"No." she was cool, she was cool, it was fine, christ almighty the body on it -

"Gimme your hand?"

She swallowed, offered it over, palm up. He took her wrist carefully, folding her fingers into a fist. He took the other and did the same, turning her around, both wide palms resting against her shoulders. He'd steered her around to the punching bag, reached over her to take a fist and show how she should twist from palm up to down upon landing the punch from her waist.

He did it slowly, then brought her hands up about her face in a defensive stance, nudging her insole aside with his toe, his entire leg molded against hers.

"Go on." his hands slid very slowly from wrists, all the way back to her shoulders, smoothing then back, thumbs momentarily digging into tense muscles. "You got it."

She hit the bag for a good ten minutes, but her brain kept shorting out. There were a lot of moments that she simply forgot what she was doing, with the heat pulsing from Bucky's body, and the lukewarm from his metal arm. She knew the insides of it, had studied it for hours to make sure her tech would take and that she wasn't giving him false hope. But her brain couldn't manage to function, not with the miles and miles of hot super solider at her back like a comfy wall, his words a constant lull of gentle encouragement and correction.

She punched the bag too hard, frustrated with herself, and bounced back off him.

He chuckled, human hand on her waist to steady her.

"Is it too heavy?" he wanted to know. "The bag?"

"I don't know." she muttered, miserable. She aimed a half hearted kick at the leather, making her bounce back off Bucky's chest again. Instead of letting herself fall, however, she mostly sagged against him, tilting her head back, pouting. "I'm usually really good at new stuff, and I don't know why I keep failing."

"You're doing fine." he soothed. His metal fingers stroked a lock of hair from her forehead. "Did you want me to get Barton, and you can hit him instead?"

"I don't want  _him_." she scowled. "He is on my shit-list."

"Then hit me."

"What? No."

"If you think you can," he cooed, standing her upright. "I'll go easy on you."

She scoffed.

"I'm not going to hit you."

"No," he teased. "You aren't."

She whacked him then with an open hand, and he didn't so much as budge to defend himself, just let it happen. His chest was like granite. She shook her hand out, scowling playfully up at him, nose scrunched.

"Hurt?" he snickered.

"No."

"Good. Do it again." there was a pause, and he tilted his head at her. "Do I have to tease you into hitting me?"

"Bucky, no. I don't want to hurt you."

"You won't."

"I'm not going to punch you repeatedly, I'm a lover, not a fighter." she considered the bag. "Maybe I should just quit, love my enemies to death."

"S'not gonna happen whilst I'm here."

"Why?" she studied his behemoth chest from under her lashes. "It seems to be working pretty well on you."

"Kindly get your mind outta the bedroom." the dark look in his eyes had a lot more to say about how she should stay in the bedroom, with him, and not a lot else but a bed. "Hitting people ain't like punching things that won't punch back. Not like the bag hasn't just about knocked you on your ass twice..."

She swallowed, looked up at him, his easy smile.

"Sure you're not gonna hurt?"

"As long as you're hittin' me like a goddamn kitten, I won't."

She rolled her eyes, whacked him again, just not as hard as she could've.

"How'd you like that?" she teased.

"Uh huh." he puffed out his chest. "C'mon, Lewis, you can do better than that. Give it to me."

"When I give it to you," she said, fluttery lashed. "You'll know about it."

And she punched him again.

He stared at the steadily growing smile on her mouth, then flicked his eyes back up to hers, noting the glitter of mischief. Taking one hand, he steered it down to his solar plexus, hand lingering on her wrist.

"Again." he said, rough.

She punched him once with both hands. He steered them around, turning her fingers up, aiming at his diaphragm.

"You've got a masochistic streak." she muttered. "And don't you even lie to me, right now, I know you like it rough but we don't even have a safe word..."

"Move closer," he murmured. "Bring 'em in shorter."

She did, looking up, breathing weirdly.

"Like this?" Both fists were resting against his stomach, so close she could taste the air he breathed against her face. She could feel him, tense through the tummy, breathing deliberately long and slow. She swallowed, and her hands went lax. For a millisecond, her knuckles spread open and she stroked the planes of his belly, making his even breaths stutter, a little.

"Yeah. Like that." he teased, smiling a little. "Super effective against enemies."

She aimed her eyes at his collar bone.

"Can I ask you something?"

"Mm?" he tilted his head, then brought her gaze upward with his finger under her chin.

"Did you-..." God, so  _pretty_ , how does a face even  _do that_? "When I was sleeping, the other day when I sleep-walked into your apartment, did you happen to... come by my room, after?"

Suspiciously long pause.

"Why's that?"

Stupidly, her hands were moving, petting his stomach absent mindedly.

"I think... I thought I had a dream. You were in it. I haven't - I don't think I've ever slept so well, and it was because I knew you were there. So, uhm..." she sucked on her bottom lip for a long second, then exhaled shortly. "Were you in bed with me?"

His smile lessened.

"Mighta been, yeah."

"Yeah?"

He put his human hand over the back of hers, thumb stroking over her knuckles.

"Yeah."

"It's just that, uhm..." she looked him right in the eye, her mouth flooded with excess saliva, causing her to swallow before she spoke. "If you wanted to, you know, stop by, some time, again..."

"Yeah?" he muttered, metal fingers barely touching her cheek. 

She flicked her tongue out to wet it, accidentally-on-purpose tagged his thumb. His eyes blew black, the pupil expanding, and he shifted closer, so close that her hands were wedged between his chest and her own.

"Yeah. James, I think -"

"Well, this looks productive." Tony COCKBLOCKER Stark, sort of, shouldered in between them and put his back to Bucky, taking Darcy's hand. "Yeah, see, now you're coming to learn kick boxing with Happy and if Happy isn't good enough I'll let you work with Natasha-"

"Wait -" she glanced back at the super solider, glaring at Tony over her head. "I was working with Bucky!"

"Trust me, I know what 'working with' looks like, and this is not it, so this is going to be better for you educationally and - what is even with him, okay?" he made a noise that could've been laughter, possibly hysteria. "He's a distraction! He didn't even teach you proper edict or whatever and I'm not going to let him 'teach' you things that are wrong. Good foundations are entirely necessary for the building of steady educations, quote unquote my father unto me."

"Ton-ee-"

"Don't even at me with that tone of voice, young lady. You can play with your friend later. Except don't play with him. Don't - that image is in my brain, god damn it, I'm gonna make you a fuckin' chastity belt with  _lasers_ -"

"I can sleep with who ever I want-"

"Not under my roof, you can't!"

"Fine, I'll take him to the helipad, whatever!" she managed to pry her wrist from him, digging in her heels. "Jesus, why so serious? It's just a little fun-"

"No. No, no, no. No fun." he slashed his hands through the air like he was physically cutting something in half. "It's not fun if there's potential babies involved."

"You have a problem." she told him forcefully, and was rather surprised to see Bucky guarding the the door to the elevator. "Woah! How did you get there?"

"Assassin." he said, amused, and looked at Tony with a significantly darker stare. "Mind liberating the dame, Stark?"

"No. She's needed elsewhere. With security. And me." he stood tall, chin up, half in front of Darcy. She promptly moved to the side, and Tony inflated again, without looking at her. "She can learn first with Happy, and then Natasha, and then you. She's too busy making goo-goo eyes for this to amount to anything but potentially sexy times-"

"Oh my god Tony no."

"-So no liberating of the dame, not to you. The kid comes with me." and Darcy could hear, he didn't actually mean to add out loud: "I know she's safe, that way."

"Don't trust me, old man?" one brow shot up.

Tony didn't even think about it.

"Not with her, I don't."

"Trust Barton, then." he said, nodding behind them. Darcy swiveled to see Clint had followed, but Tony didn't budge. "Cuz you know he's keepin' eyes on our situation."

"Look, I can't fabricate human-friendly tech to insert into your programming so you don't get poisoned and die if I can't stop thinking Darcy is going to get impregnated while I've got my back turned."

"Tony." She said, mortified, cracked behind one hand. "I know there are stashes of condoms everywhere in the Tower, so I'm not going to make that mistake-"

"Why do you know about the stashes?" he turned to stare at her, wide eyed. "Who told you?"

"JARVIS!" she said sharply, and tugged her hand away from his slackening grip. "Oh, puh-lease, with the father-lecture-face. You can stop now, I'm not sleeping with James!"

"Bucky." he corrected.

"Yeah, him too." she waved a hand at the general direction of the dark haired super solider. "Did you actually need me for anything, or are you literally just worried I'm going to get pregnant?"

He spluttered.

Tony Stark, without his words. Darcy was kind of impressed, until he blurted:

"I'm not ready for grand kids without power cords." then he sucked in a huge breath of air, and tried to rectify it with: "You're a baby, Darcy, you have so much life and potential-"

"Oh my god, shut up,  _dad_ ," she scoffed. She didn't noticed how still he went. Everyone else did. "Look, okay, I'm an adult, I've averted crisis' too, AKA London when I helped save a bunch of people, after I tazed the God of thunder and made him make me pancakes. I've been alone my whole life, Tony. I'm capable. I'm fine."

He looked ill.

"That bein' said." Clint muttered, frowning at the Iron Man. "I think I might just step in here and offer my punching services."

"Yeah, that," Tony said, a little wheezy. "Do that. I'm gonna have a panic attack and get back to work."

"What?" she went from mildly frustrated to intensely concerned in the space of a second. "Tony?"

"Fine, it's fine. You're an adult, you're used to being alone. I get that. I understand. You don't need me. That's fine." he turned on his heel, one hand over his mouth, with only muted the mutters he kept saying, his shoulders up like hackles.

Darcy took a step toward him but Clint caught her arm, shaking his head.

"He'll be alright." he muttered. "Come on. Finish up with your pretty war hero and then we'll go and I'll watch you make some cupcakes, alright?"

"No," she said, eyeing Tony's retreating back. "It isn't alright."

But she went and did it anyway.


	25. Chapter 25

As far as cupcake making with Clint went, he literally sat there, observed, and sometimes ate the ugly cupcakes, sometimes snuck in the good looking ones too.

She had parted from Bucky reluctantly, but had mentioned that she'd see him later. He said they'd finish their conversation, and she tried not to be nervous about that, but apparently super spies are all about body language - because he broke the tension by challenging her to a cupcake-off, which was about as much competition to her as arm wrestling to him.

Still, she'd give him points for trying.

"Alright," Clint said, kind of amused. "What's with the face?"

"What face?" she asked her vanilla raspberry swirl. Since Tony was such a fan, he'd stocked every flavor and every color and all sorts of neat decorating tools on her floor, in the communal kitchen, along with some books on the subject signed to her by culinary royalty, because Tony Stark did not half ass anything. "I don't have a face."

"You look like you want to punch your cupcakes." he mused. "Wanna talk about it?"

"I'm just thinking." she muttered.

"No, your thinking face and your cupcake punching face are two different things." he pointed at her, swirled his finger around. "You're not upset about having to leave Buck-ee, are you?"

"I'm not upset." she said, but she was, and he knew it. Judging by the raised eyebrows, he wasn't going to roll over and let it slide, either, so she focused on the icing bag in her hands and carefully sculpted a dollop of jam onto the tiny cake. "I was thinking about Tony."

"What about him?" it may have come out just a touch too quick. His resting face was cold cut and kind of intimidating, and she could never read it to guess if he was putting it on or just at ease.

"I said something to him, and I can't figure out what it is that made him... freak out."

"Yeah, that was a little confusing." he agreed, but didn't offer anything to the contrary.

"I don't know." she tilted the bag, pinching the top, making sure it didn't leak everywhere. "I might make him something special to make him feel better. Something edible."

Clint eyed the new batch of cupcakes with interest.

"You never make me something special."

She smacked his hand when he reached for one, gave him a sweet smile.

"So, Mr. Spy Man. I'll give you two warm cupcakes and do a coffee flavored batch if you take Tony a special one and... do a little... spy work. Not a lot! Just a little." she held up a thumb and forefinger to indicate the littleness of his spying.

He arched a brow, leaned his forearms on the counter with interest.

"What kind of spy work are we talking, here, Lewis?"

"I just want you to maybe see if you can talk to Tony about why he was - well, why he is, you know, like he is, with me. Do you think-?" she put her eyes down, frowning. "Maybe I'm looking too much into it, but... He gets really shifty whenever I mention my dad. And everyone knows that he's had like, dozens of nannies to bring him up, and butlers, and his father and mother were always away, when he was growing up, so I thought - do you think he's like, stepping up to the plate? Like, trying to parent me, a little?"

Clint's blink was very slow.

"Actually, cuppy cake, I think that might be exactly what he's doing." he said, smiling a little. "You're a sharp one, never let anyone tell you any different."

Something in her brain was warring with her, an annoying internal beep; like correct results had not yet been processed, that she needed additional data. But she didn't say anything, just returning Clint's entirely too-small smile, and loading up the nicest of her vanilla swirl cupcakes for Tony onto a plate.

"I'll be back shortly," he said, leaning over the counter to give her temple a quick kiss. "Stop scowling, that's my job."

* * *

"Are you going to tell her?"

_Shit._

"Tell who what?"

Tony looked up from the new tech he was going to attach to Barnes, the internal workings of which he was painstakingly going over for the second time himself before he had JARVIS run a scan to ensure that everything was going to mesh smoothly. Barton was standing with a plate of cupcakes, shoulder leaning against a wall, eyes focused on him. He tried, for a moment, to smirk, to be as Barton would expect-

"Are you going to tell Darcy you're her father?"

The smirk fell off his face. He put his tools down, tugged off his gloves, shoving his goggles down on his neck.

"How did you figure it out?"

"I'm called Hawkeye for a reason. You two are similar enough, with the mechanical engineering and the eureka face, and the sassiness." he tapped his nose at him, sauntering across the room sliding the plate down on the desk. Two very defined arms folded across his chest, and he continued to stare without blinking, that creepy sniper intense look that made Tony nervous for reasons he didn't want to examine too closely. "But you reacting to her calling you  _dad_  was what did it. Even she's onto you, now, and it won't take her much longer to put the pieces together. So. Are you going to tell her you're her father, or do you want me to do it?"

"I'm not her father, though, am I? What does she need me for?" his smile was twisted, nasty, on the archer. "When she's got  _you_?"

Clint rolled his eyes, breaking the tension.

"You know, for a genius," he said bluntly. "Not so genius."

"She doesn't want a father." Tony retorted.

"Not when she's convinced he's a crack head in the mid-west, she doesn't." Clint reminded him. "The kid has always wanted to know her father, despite the noise she makes. Confirming he's amounted to nothing and nobody is not something she wants confirmed, is the problem. She will want to know when it's  _you._ "

"She doesn't need to know it's me, especially because it is me," Tony bit back. "And for good reason."

"What reason is that?"

"Because I  _am_ a genius," he said, staring right back, dark eyes glittering dangerously. Clint tilted his head at the lift to the billionaire's chin, the ram-rod straight spine. "And this could be very dangerous for her, all variables considered. I've already considered the consequences, and I've done the pros and cons. She doesn't need to know, Barton, and I swear, if you tell her, I will make your life very, very difficult."

"You're threatening me? Really." Clint was unimpressed with the show of machismo. "Because I seriously think I can take you down before you can even get the suit on. Just because I don't have my bow doesn't make me any less weaponized."

"I won't lift a finger to you, but by the time I'm done, I won't have to." his voice had taken a dark tenor, vibrating with implied malice. "There are other ways to ruin a person. Don't make me get creative."

There was a heated silence. Clint was prepared to use the stapler next to his hand if Tony decided to call on the suit. Instead, the genius reached over, took a cupcake, and grumpily chewed on it. His eyes rolled up into his head.

"God, these are good."

"No kidding." he took one, leaning his hip on the table, pulling off a chunk to shove in his mouth. They chewed in companionable silence, then Clint ate more of his cupcake. "I won't tell her. But you should. How long have you known?"

Tony swallowed, considered the cake in his hand.

"Since she was in London." he looked up at Clint who was eating, but watching him. "I got an email from someone about kidnapping my daughter while they were on foreign ground, and had to look around for proof. I'm not on her birth certificate, there was only - a brief interlude, with her mother. They sent me her DNA. I did the test."

"And the kidnapper?"

"Was paid two hundred thousand dollars in cash and went quiet. Didn't even see it coming, just ended up taking the money and running. We were baiting them to see if they tried again for more, figure out the game, but they didn't. It was probably a stroke of luck, nothing real."

The look on Clint's face, though, that made Tony think twice.

"Who else knows?"

"Bruce, without my permission." Tony offered. "I told Pepper just after Darcy moved in. Jane was the first to figure it out, and she was close to the kid, so I kept in touch to keep an eye on it. Friendship evolved."

"How long has Foster known?"

"Weeks. Just before we picked everyone up from New Mexico." he swallowed, scrunched his nose. "She told Thor not too long ago, and they both think I should tell her, too."

"Why don't you?"

"Barton, imagine you find out you have a kid." his voice was whip-crack sharp, and Clint was reminded that although Tony wasn't physically a match for him, he was intellectually a giant. "A kid half as bright and beautiful and  _innocent_ as Darcy. Imagine she idolizes you, but hates her unknown father, is used to hating him. Imagine trying to tell yourself that her ignorance isn't your bliss."

"You're letting her live a lie." Clint warned him. "Darcy likes to know things. She gets it from you."

Tony winced, but shook his head to cover it.

"You know what else she'll get from me? Friendship." he took a big bite of the cake, smearing jam on his chin. "She's safer this way. I had a hundred and ten enemies before I was Iron Man, you don't think they'll stop at nothing to get a little pay back on me, through her? You want her to be a bigger target than she already is?"

"Neither you, nor I, would let anything happen to her." Clint said, flatly. "But she  _is_  a smart girl. And you've seen what happens when she feels lied to by people she loves, so. When she learns the truth, are you gonna be ready for the fall out?"

"She won't." Tony warned. "There's no proof. I've disconnected the computer I ever did the paternity test on, recycled it into car parts for good measure. I've searched high and low for anything to link us otherwise, and there's nothing to prove I even knew her mother aside from a very, very short meeting around about the right time. Darcy'll settle for nothing less than a DNA test, and I won't give it."

He considered trying to say 'no' to Darcy, and corrected himself.

"Alright, I'll give it, but I'll rig the machine to lie to her."

There was a pause.

"How did it happen, Stark?" Clint muttered. "How did you let it happen?"

"Look, twenty-odd years ago wasn't the best time for my higher brain functions. Cocaine is a hell of a drug." he wiped the jam off his chin, took a bigger bite. "Her mother was supposed to be my live-in sober companion. Except I may or may not have gotten her into some... recreational pills and powders. The last I heard, she failed a drug test at her work and fell off the map."

Clint shut his eyes.

"You did that, to her?" he said, darkly.

"Did what? Got her pregnant?" Tony scoffed. "I'm pretty sure we just had this conversation."

"Got her on the drugs." Clint's eyes flew open, all sniper intensity aimed at Tony once more, studying him like he was looking for the point to put the bullet in. "You put Darcy's mother on the drugs - you did that? You were that gateway?"

And even if Tony's genius wasn't people compatible, he could sense when there was more to something than he was being told.

"What happened?"

"I don't know how nothing was wrong with Darcy when she was born, no infant withdrawal, nothing, like her mother hadn't been taking the whole time she was pregnant. She was only allowed to keep the kid because by the time they did the tests, the drugs were outta her system and no one was the wiser."

Tony looked at the cupcake in his hands, frowned.

"What do you know?"

"Darcy's upbringing was fuckin'  _pitiful_ , and you're talking to a guy who got bull whipped in a circus as a child. Neither of us know how she survived. That would've been all Darcy taking care of herself, but I can't figure out how an infant could cook her own food, do her homework, feed her mother, make sure she didn't die in her sleep, survive. She told me she did the deals, when her mother wasn't sober enough."

"Deals." Tony repeated, eyes narrowing. "The drug deals?"

"What other deals do you think I mean?" Clint snapped. "Darcy thinks that maybe she got clean, for a while, managed to raise her up half sober until she could do things for herself. But I checked - you feel free to do the same - there was no rehab, no police records, and coke's not exactly a drug you ween off of by yourself, and not by halves."

"Amen." Tony said, lowly.

Clint put his half eaten cupcake down on the plate behind him, jaw clenching.

"You tell her soon, Stark. Before she figures it out." he started walking from the lab. "Then she'll hate both of us."

* * *

 

Clint had only just left the room when Thor came in, piggy backing Jane, both of them absolutely glowing. Jane's smile was wide and bright - she even looked well-rested, for once. Thor's eyes landed on the cupcakes and he out rightly laughed, bouncing Jane up further onto his back and striding into the kitchen.

"My lady!" he bellowed, then looked around, wide eyed. "Has the Hawk not yet discovered the treasure that is your cupcakes?"

"I've sent him on a mission." she said, handing a cupcake up to Jane, who took it and bit it, before offering it to Thor, who took a surprisingly delicate nibble. "So you guys can hang out, if you like, but I'm instigating a two cupcake ban on the both of you while you're here. She may be but little, but the lady will eat fifteen cupcakes straight up."

"That was one time." Jane said, rolling her eyes.

Thor just chuckled, setting her down on one of the stools while he cast a hungry eye over the proffered cakes. They had settled behind the counter while Darcy manned the bowl with her next batch being mixed, when Thor and Jane both went still, staring at something over her shoulder.

"I had stumbled across the tutorials from learning card tricks," came a forced, half whispered explanation from behind her. She froze. "I was only playing, something to do, when you came in and saw the results. Stark and Barton both did accost me - once, and not with as much force as I lead you to believe, but I never told you anything differently. You assumed, and I allowed you to, because I..."

She waited with her back turned on him, hand braced around a whisk, shoulders up around her ears like hackles. Jane reached across to take her wrist, squeezing gently, like an anchor.

"I - liked... your attention." Loki continued, swallowing loudly. He didn't lift his eyes from the back of Darcy's head. "I didn't - still, technically, I didn't lie to you. If I had've guessed how much it would cost me your friendship, I never - Darcy, I would have never - I would have explained. I didn't know it would - wound you, like it did. But I should've, perhaps, guessed, because you and I, we feel. And I -"

She remained perfectly still, not bothering to look at him.

"We feel, and we stay wounded, once a cut is made. And I know it was my mistake, but - I feel your loss, more acutely than if I had lost a limb, more than when I had my magic stripped from me. And I miss you. And I'm sorry, more sorry that I hurt you, than that I've lost you. I realize that I'm not -" he cleared his throat. "I know I'm not worth the effort you made into befriending me, but I want you to have peace and if you... wanted to, hurt me, to earn your revenge, I would understand. And - you may. I'll let you." He opened his hands, eyed the rolling pin and the various cutting tools on the counter around her.

For a long second, he waited, braced, ready and willing for her rage to rain down on him. When she next opened her mouth, so ready for the punishment was he that he flinched at her voice.

"Wash your hands." she told the bowl in front of her. "And whisk this." she abandoned her task, going instead to the oven, crouching instead to look into the window with narrowed eyes.

He was... confused.

Thor exhaled a breath.

"Pardon?"

"Wash your hands," she repeated, and eyed his lengthy shirt. "And roll your sleeves up. Unlike your sad excuse for a father, when you burn me, Loki, I'm not going to send you away to fester and try and fix yourself. You're going to help me make cupcakes, and we are going to hand them out to the team, and  _everyone is going to get along nicely_."

The tone of voice she used inclined him to believe that everyone was going to get along if they wanted to stay alive.

He looked at the kitchen, the powder and muck on an apron over her clothes, all the servant work that he'd never seen done in his life, to Thor, who was watching without a word, any smile he might have hidden behind his beard. He looked to Jane, who lifted her brows slightly, and nodded, waving him on while Darcy's back was turned to her. Then he sighed, rolled up his sleeves, and washed his hands.

"Alright." he said, going over to the bowl. "I'll - yes. Whisk."

"Good." she told the oven, and stood, dusting off her hands on her thighs.

* * *

When Clint wondered in, half already complaining that the coffee flavored cup cakes were taking too long, he saw Loki manning the tray, a bag of bright blue icing between his hands, Darcy leaning heavily to one side to observe. There was only a vague noting of Thor and Jane, but mostly how close Darcy was to the Trickster.

He went stock still, twitching, as they both looked up from the task.

"Get out." he bit.

"Stay there." Darcy said. She pointed a spatula at Clint. "Don't even, right now, Clint Barton."

"Darcy-"

"No." she reiterated, firmly. "Don't make this a Thing."

"This is already a Thing. I won't let him-"

"Yeah, he's going to do a lot of damage with a bag of icing." she shot back.

"Please," Thor stood, lifting his ham sized hands in surrender. "Let's not fight. My brother has apologized for his slight, and my lady Darcy has shown him to repent."

"Apologized, sure." Clint sneered, rubbed a hand over his mouth to try and wipe it away. "Did he tell you what he's capable of, what he's done to me, while he was there?"

Darcy leveled out her look, put the spatula down to guide Loki's icing bag up, so it stopped dripping lethargically onto a nicely decorated cupcake. He was looking between them, taller than both, but somehow much smaller, insignificant.

"No, he didn't." she said patiently. "But neither did you. You know every thing about me, and I know next to nothing about you. Just where your callouses are and that I have to make noise when you're asleep, otherwise I get strangled."

He turned his face down, turning his whole body away.

"I didn't mean that."

"And that's about the only other thing I know about you, is that you'd never  _intentionally_  hurt me."

"What is that supposed to mean?"

"It means you're an emotionally stunted seven year old." she said, pursing her lips. "And you think that by taking away all my friends and opportunities you're somehow going to avoid me getting hurt."

"Darcy - this is -" he stared past Loki, only speaking to her. "Different. He hurt me, in ways I wouldn't wish on anyone, not even back onto him. You think, with that kinda pain, I would let him take a shot? Do you think I'd let anything _more_  happen to you?"

"Do you think I would?" she asked him, gently. "I've got guards up around me miles high and meters wide. He hasn't got his magic. He can't hurt me -"

"He already has." Clint pointed out. "He already put you off talking. He's a liar, and he doesn't know any better."

"You're right." she softened again, stepping out from around the trickster, who curled in on himself, made himself smaller. "So, we let him learn how to be better. You kick a puppy long enough and it'll never expect anything else, it'll just learn to bite to protect itself."

"He's not a puppy," Clint said, loudly, finding his anger. "He's a grown ass man, and he killed people - he  _used_ me to kill people -"

She put her arms around him, hid her face in his chest, squeezing tightly.

"I love you, Clint," she told him. "I  _love_  you. I  _hate_  that he's hurt you, but I hate that he got hurt enough to do it in the first place. I'm not choosing sides." she said, weakly.

He wrapped tight arms around her in return, glaring at Loki over her head. He barely wanted to take eyes off him, make sure he was still and solid, but the way Darcy was trembling... He tucked his cheek on her head, tense and coiled and ready to attack. She just hugged him harder, whispering.

"You are my only family, you know, and I love you, Clint, even if you don't love yourself, I do."

"Yeah, yeah," he said, gruff. "But he's -"

"Sorry." Loki offered. "I am sorry. I - regret, what I forced you into, and -" he stepped away from the counter, bag of blue sugar left, forgotten, on the table.

"You can hurt me, if you want to earn your revenge thusly. I will allow it."

Darcy looked up, chin planted on his chest, waiting for the verdict. Thor went tense all over, hands curling into fists, while Jane just looked between them, a worried line between her brows. There was a long pause, where everyone in the room sensed Clint weighing up what weapon to use, and where to use it.

"I'm not gonna hurt you. Shit." he tucked his face back down on Darcy's shoulder. "You're right, he's a damaged motherfucker, isn't he?"

"I... do not recall having ever slept with any one's mother, on Midgard."

And somehow, that made Clint chuckle, and let Darcy go.

"Let me explain to you human colloquialisms, man."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm having the worst day. Family drama like you wouldn't believe.  
> Write me your favorite part so far?


	26. Chapter 26

He was coming to get her, knife in hand. He was coming to get her, and he was smiling, something manic and terrifying about him. He was coming to get her, and she was  _going to die_ , right up until something shiny flashed past her eyes and flew into his skull and there was no one else in the room and she was going to get stabbed and die and now he was angry because there was nothing else that could've done it and it wasn't him,  _he_  didn't launch a sandwich press at his own head but Darcy hadn't touched it so it  _had to have been_  -

Darcy woke up screaming, kicking, smacking desperately at the person holding her.

"It's alright, it's me," and she'd know his greasy workshop smell anywhere, but it was the light in his chest she recognized, the one that made her stop trying to claw her own face and shove at him instead. "It's me. It's  _me._  I've got you, kiddo, it's alright. Stop  _hurting_  yourself. You're alright. I've got you."

It was half out of her mouth, the words  _Dad, is that you?_ , but she kind of slurred the syllables into one long noise, putting her claws into him, hiding her sweaty head against his shoulder, shaking. He was kneeling on the bed, arms wrapped around her shoulders, holding her skull to the side of his chest, next to the arc reactor.

"Tony." she said, shaky. "I'm okay. I'm - you should go."

"Why?"

Tears were in the scratches on her cheeks - her scalp ached from where she had pulled her own hair in an effort to wake herself up. Although she knew her face was wet from crying, there was a warm, sluggishly bleeding tear on her jawline from where she had apparently gouged herself in her sleep.

"I'm having a lot of feelings and they're gonna go everywhere."

He leaned back, studying her face, brows pulled together in concern.

"Vomit-y feelings?" an eyebrow went up. "Because that's something I'm familiar with, I mean, my own - not yours, so if you're gonna eject your stomach, speak now and I'll get a bucket or a wastebasket or something."

To answer his question, she burst into tears, clapped both hands over her face to cry into them.

"Oh." he patted her shoulder, kind of dragged her into a hug. "Oh, those kind of feelings, okay. I am not equipped for this. This is - not something I'm compatible with, SOS, file not found. JARVIS - send for help."

Within what felt like seconds, Pepper engulfed her, feeling delicate - but at the same time with an underlying power, like a tiny sports car with horsepower to spare. Darcy had no doubt that if she leaned on her, Pepper could support the weight, metaphysical or otherwise. She soothed her with her expensive smelling hug and soft cotton pajama top, bird boned arms around her like shields.

"More dreams?" Pepper said softly.

"As per usual." she sniffed. "I'm okay. That one was just -... I'm okay."

"Do you want to talk to me about it?"

"No." she sniffed, miserable, and put a hand over her eyes, because on the list of Things She Did Not Want To See, Tony Stark and his Mega Concerned Face was in her top three. "I want to make it  _go away_."

"What can I do, Darcy?"

"Pep." Darcy said, wetly, into her shirt. "Pepper, Pep no. My feels. They're going  everywhere, all over your shirt-"

"We'll buy more. You and I can go out some time together."

"I'll foot it, if you want." Tony said quickly. "Or not, if you two are feeling independent and don't need no man. I don't mind."

Gentle fingers tipped her chin up. The woman's smile was the kindest, warmest smile Darcy had ever received, the ones she'd missed out on with a perpetually high mother. She started crying harder.

"Oh, Darcy, don't cry, of course Tony is going to buy you pretty things. You're one of his favorite people."

The way her eyes were twinkling, Darcy knew she was joking. But her life, thus far, was a joke. She had been smiley and happy for far too long, and the kindness of one CEO was undoing all her hard fronting work. She glanced around to see Tony fretting, chewing his thumb, watching her with big eyes.

"I'm sorry." she told him.

"Hey, I know a thing or two about my brain not turning off." he offered. "Don't apologize to me. Is your face okay?"

She nodded, but didn't really know, couldn't really feel it.

"I think I know what will help." Pepper said, raising from the bed, her arms around Darcy, leading her carefully. "Tony, grab that blanket. Come on."

They walked, getting in the elevator without a spoken command - JARVIS took them to the lab, where Bruce looked up, bewildered for a second on Darcy's injuries, before seeing Tony's stricken expression and softening.

"Bad dream?" he guessed.

She sniffed, nodding.

"I'll get the first aid kit." Pepper suggested, sitting Darcy in a rolly chair.

ALF saw her, squeaked, and rolled over to look up at her with wide camera eyes, waiting for his pats.

"Bad dream?" ALF repeated. "Why?"

Tony wound the blanket around her shoulders, drawing up a seat beside her, twiddling his thumbs on his chest, reclining with a bounce. Bruce strolled over, inspecting her face, the nasty claw mark on her jaw, peering through his glasses. "I thought I saw the monitors do the thing." Bruce muttered.

"Yeah, the thing!" ALF repeated, nodding with enthusiasm as Darcy lightly touched his head.

"What?" she sniffed, wiped her hand over her nose.

"Whenever you have a nightmare." Bruce said calmly. "The monitors get very bright. It's probably nothing..."

"Maybe it's JARVIS?" she said, sounding strangely hopeful. "He's the one that lets you know when I'm-... Waking up?"

"Yeah, JARVIS." Bruce said, nodding, turning to accept the first aid kit from Pepper, who held onto it with both hands, smiling politely.

"Bad dreams, Dar-cee?" ALF said, tugging on the hem of her shirt. "Why?"

"Bad programming." she muttered, drawing a circle on his head, making his lenses readjust with an audible whirl, going big on her face. His shutters clicked down once, and she could hear him processing.

"Ton-ee gon' fix it?"

"It's not that kind of programming," Tony offered, shrugged. "Or else I would've already taken care of it, wouldn't I, squirt?"

ALF made a disappointed noise, then perked up, popping so abruptly against Darcy's fingers that he head butted her whole hand away.

"Buck-ee can fix!" he declared.

"Excuse me?" Tony's brow went up.

"Buck-ee. Had bad programming." he nodded, like it made all the sense in the world, and should soon to the humans. "Buck-ee can fix, fixed Buck-ee, Buck-ee can fix Dar-cee.."

Pepper didn't hand the first aid kit over - rather perching on Tony's knees to administer the smears of disinfectant and liquid band-aids to Darcy's face. She was gentle, with the only thing that hurt being the initial sting - the more serious slice on her jaw line needed a solid band-aid.

"There we go. Feel a bit better?" her kind, sincere smile... Darcy's bottom lip was wobbling. "Not even a little bit?"

"Much. Thank you." she looked around at the assembled adults, all watching her. "I'm okay, I promise. I can just... go back to bed."

"But not to sleep." Pepper said, patting her knee. "Yes, I've heard this song before. That's why you're in the lab. I expect all the world's problems will be solved by the morning."

She got up, kissing Tony's temple, before kissing Darcy's. ALF skirted around her, away from Pepper (who he did  _not like_ ,) and hid behind Bruce's knees.

Bruce made a move to pet him, but Pepper caught his shirt and gave him a quick kiss on the head too, causing him to flush pink instead of green, a shy, embarrassed smile on his face, and duck all the way down to hide and pat ALF.

"Maybe not the whole world's problems..." Darcy said, small. She swallowed, blinking at Tony. "What's Bucky's new arm look like? Is it nearly finished?"

"Could use a few more days." he shrugged. "One or two if we get a good thing going."

She looked at Bruce, then Tony, then to ALF. who was still manning Bruce's kneecaps.

"Are you... up for Science!, Broo?" she asked, almost timid.

He smiled.

"Absolutely."

"To-?"

"Oh come on, I'm already in this, let's be honest."

"Okay." she said to ALF, reaching out to tickle his sensors. "Caffeinated beverages, ALF. We're going to need them."

He saluted her, took Bruce by the tips of his fingers, and dragged him away for help. Somehow, with a few clicks and whirrs, ALF managed to commandeer Dum-E into following along too, the robot bashing into the wall in his haste to walk beside Bruce.

"Our bots look like Bruce's kids." Darcy laughed.

Tony was still hovering - which was kind of cute, in a nervous way. Not like Clint's form of hover, which was to be totally unapologetic about it, but much more like Tony didn't quite know what to do or what to say, staring at her intently.

She sniffed.

"Hey, that reminds me," she said, poking his knee. "You never tell me anything about the arc reactor."

He frowned.

"Why would I?"

"Well, I don't know, I'm curious about it, I guess." she said, wiping her eyes. She poked just below the bright light in his chest, feeling calm, like she was coming down from her fear just basking in the glow. "It's pretty."

For a long moment, he didn't say anything.

"This, arc reactor?" he said, slowly, motioning at his chest.

"No, the other one. What do you think?"

He rubbed his eyes.

"... I don't have an arc reactor, any more."

"What?" she scrunched her nose. "I'm looking right at it. I can see it through your shirt."

He debated, internally, the cogs in his brain visibly whirring, before he grabbed the neck of his t-shirt and tugged it down, past his sternum. And Darcy was surprised - and really, _really_  confused - to see that no, there was no arc reactor embedded in his chest, just a dull glow under his skin, and the worms of scars mashed over it.

"Oh," she said slowly, and touched the thick marks over his heart. "Did you internalize it, somehow?"

" _What_." he said, flatly.

"It's still glowing." she said, looking up at him. "Did you move it into your chest cavity, or what?"

He blinked at her for a long while.

"I don't have an arc reactor, any more." he told her, quietly, as Bruce entered the room behind her.

"But I can see it." she frowned. "Wait, is this one of those weird need-to-know things SHIELD isn't allowed to know?"

His eyes flicked nervously to Bruce.

"Yeah, something like that. I'll tell you more about it later." he let go of his shirt, sauntering around her, cutting Bruce off with casual demands about what the geneticist had to do before Tony could run the first series of tests on Bucky's new appendage.

Bruce seemed to realize something had happened - and so did Darcy - but she had no actual idea of what it was.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The comments have absolutely made my life so much brighter, thank you so much. Those little things kept me up and at 'em through out the most horrific day, I can't even explain.
> 
> So, the posts will be less frequent because the build up of story I had in stock are depleted; but the good news is the end is on the horizon, I've got the plans all sorted and such. I'll probably continue this world in one shots, little bits about ALF or Darcy/Bucky, but no promises on that front. 
> 
> There will be at least two filler chapters here... then the dramatic unveiling of what happened to Darcy, and how she knows Clint, and what the hell is going on. Heads up - it's pretty sad and all sorts of traumatic, so warnings will be included in the chapter.
> 
> That being said, thank you for reading and especially to those who left kind words - you'll never know how they made a life that much different.  
> xx


	27. Chapter 27

Tony's initial estimate of a few days was grossly incorrect, mainly because he hadn't factored in the Darcy Effect.

That being said, now Bucky and Darcy were lying next to each other in lab areas on clean hospital bed, both their vitals stable, but neither of them moving, Tony was sitting at the foot of the bed reviewing footage from the day's events, Clint was parched on the chair next to Darcy's hand. Steve was on Bucky's far side, arms crossed, staring at his friend's new arm, the half curl of his metal fist laying limp on the blankets.

Darcy's lids were flickering, pale purple in color, but they had been since she dropped.

Tony jolted, got up to his feet, and bought the monitor to Clint, pointing at the HD clarity.

"What do you see?" he demanded. "What are they saying?"

Clint gave it a once over.

He hadn't been present when the drama had happened - only Pepper thinking to notify him several minutes after Darcy initially wouldn't wake up. Steve had been there for the operation; it went without saying that there were apprehensions about getting Bucky on the table, his anesthesia and numbing agent made out of some potent chemicals Bruce had once tried on the Hulk.

He'd lain down, Darcy able to be in the room when he went under, and he looked nervous. He was utterly still, a deadness to his face that made Clint very uncomfortable. It was like he expected it to hurt, and he knew all about that.

Darcy, though, she stayed with him the entire time, holding his hand and petting his human arm, keeping as much of his attention as she could while he was swabbed and injected and letting the drugs wash through him. Bucky mouthed something at her - the computer didn't pick up the noise, but Clint could see it anyway.

"He's saying that he can't wait to feel her hands on the new arm." Clint said with a huff. "And she's... asking him if that's all he can't wait to feel with that arm."

Tony rolled his eyes, sighed hard.

"They're trouble." Captain America, still by Bucky's bedside, muttered. "And when they wake up, they're gonna be even more trouble."

Tony made a short noise of disapproval, and what might've amounted to protective parental noises, but Clint couldn't hear him, too focused on the screen, taking it from the genius' hands when he made to go away.

"What?" he bent over the archer's shoulder to see. "What is it?"

Clint clicked the icon and dragged it back, watching the scene again.

"Oh, shit." he muttered. "She's got it  _bad_."

"What? Why?" Tony dragged the icon back and watched the scene again - watched Darcy make sure no one but Bucky was looking when she swooped down to pick up her dropped glasses. The movement was rewarded with a sleepy grin, half shut eyes, Bucky's lips moving faintly, lethargic, as the drugs took hold.

"What happened?" Steve asked them. He was ignored.

"What did he say?" Tony said. Clint had to replay the scene twice more, frowning harder and harder as he went. "I thought you were good at this?"

"Look at how much his mouth is actively moving, there." the sniper said, giving Tony a petulant look. "And tell me you could have some kind of machine that'd do better than my eyes."

"What happened, why did she drop her glasses?"

"Chrissake, Stark. Look at where she's looking to 'pick up her glasses'." Clint showed him the screen, and JARVIS helpfully supplied the footage in slow motion - Darcy glancing around, actively reaching up to drop the glasses from her own face. She bent, fingers touching the lenses, but her face was directed at Bucky, mouth pursed to press a very small kiss on his cheekbone.

Tony rubbed his eyes,

"Oh, romance, great. That is exactly the opposite of what I wanted to happen. What did he say to her? If it's sexually inclined, I don't want to know. Wait, maybe I do, while he's unconscious and I can take him on."

Steve sighed, looked at his friend on the bed.

"Yeah, Bucky, what did you say to the dame?" he pitched lowly, putting his elbows up on the mattress, raking clawed hands through his hair.

"I said," came a thick, sleepy growl. "She's gonna be the first thing I want to touch." One bright eye popped open, followed by a lot of squinting.

"Buck?" Steve shot to his feet, hands braced on the bars. "How are you feeling?"

"Fuckin' tired. The fuck'd Banner put in that an'sthetic?" his drawl was incredibly pronounced, head lolling to the side, seeing Darcy in the bed. "S'fuckin' bad dream. 'M I dreamin'? What happened? She alright?"

"You're not dreaming," Steve said quickly. "We don't know what happened, only that Darcy collapsed after your procedure was done."

"She's -" that took a long second, for Bucky, to sink into his brain. His other eye opened. "Not alright?"

"We don't know." Tony offered.

Bucky sat up, putting his human hand to his head.

"Woah, fuck, now  _that's_  a hangover." he scowled, clutching his skull, and maneuvered out of the blankets by kicking at them like a stubborn child. His metal arm continued to hang loosely at his side. "Jesus H, Steve, you tuck me in hospital corners or somethin'?"

"I didn't do it." Steve retorted. "And you're in a medical bay, so what else were you expecting?"

"Not a fuckin' hangover, that's for damn sure." he tossed his legs over the side, growling as he overestimated how heavy the arm would be and tipped to his more human side, stumbling. Steve grabbed his shirt, but Tony put his shoulder under his arm to support him, hand braced on his chest. "Hell, that's lighter than air."

"You do realize you were carrying around like two hundred and fifty pounds of outdated tech in one limb?" Tony snorted. "Like that wasn't getting fixed. Do you know how much damage it was doing to your muscular structure?"

"Do you?" Bucky shot back.

"I have a moderately vague idea." he said, propping him up against Steve. "I read the reports. Your serum will repair it in like a week."

"Huh." Bucky looked at the loosely lolling arm, one brow up. "Thanks."

"Don't thank me yet." Tony said. "It's not working."

"Can you feel anything?" Steve asked, with apprehension. "Touch something, maybe?"

Bucky's eyes flicked to Darcy.

Clint straightened in his chair.

"Something else." he said, resting face terrifyingly blank.

"Go on, then." he looked at Steve, one brow up. "Hold my hand."

Steve gingerly did as he was asked, but nothing registered on Bucky's face - he had to check with his eyes that Steve was touching him at all. He saw his own metal thumb twitch a little, but not of his own volition.

"Can't squeeze?" Tony prodded. "Feel anything? What about this, can you feel this?" he tapped the metal shoulder with the stylus to the tablet, making a dull echoing noise.

"No." he said slowly, and carefully walked to Darcy's bedside, pulling up a seat, sinking into it gratefully. He picked up the metal wrist and inspected it, then dropped it onto the bed, staring at the twitchy limb. "I don't feel anything."

* * *

Darcy knew she was dreaming, for once.

There was a faint glow in a circular pattern - Tony, she knew it was Tony. He kept shifting from his weight, the ball of light located in his chest swaying from side to side. She could hear a beeping sound -  _vital signs_ , her brain supplied,  _you're listening to your own vital signs_  - and feel the buzz in someone's pocket as a text came through from 'Tasha':

_Is Barnes still there?_

The recipient hit one letter and sent a message back.

_Y_

Darcy felt her sight stretch, travel along through keys in his phone until she opened his Facebook, mostly empty but for a Farmville account (impeccably maintained and organized) and a series of selfies saved from where she sent it to him earlier that year.

In the minor collection, their faces were touching, smooshed up against each other. He'd tried to be somber and not have expression in the beginning, but at the time she'd been making noises to match whatever face she'd pulled. The last few tipped him too hard into hysteria and the mask he wore visibly splintered, making him grin goofily at the camera until he laughed. The last photo was of them laughing, eyes screwed shut, all teeth on display.

She left that alone, floating for a while in her strange head space. She felt the crack and fizz of something potentially magnificent next to her, a long stretch of wires and screens she was overly familiar with, but there was a disconnect, somewhere, something unplugged.

Another text interrupted exploring that, for too long.

Tasha:

_How are you?_

The recipient sent back a monkey face holding both hands over it's eyes.

Tasha:

_Use your words, Barton._

The recipient sent back a monkey holding both hands over it's mouth.

Tasha:

_Fine, fuck you._

Then:

_I'll have copious amounts of alcohol in my apartment when you want it._

And finally:

_Don't do anything stupider than usual._

He sent back a picture of a monkey with hands over it's ears.

She replied with a string of swearing in Russian, followed by:

_You're a little shit I hate you and I don't know why we're friends._

He sent her back a smiling turd.

She didn't reply.

Darcy smiled, because she had known that Natasha was some kind of hilarious dead-panned humorist, but the woman had been avoiding Darcy as she spent most of her time with either Loki or with Bucky... Natasha did not like either of those men, and wouldn't put up with them just to make friends with Darcy.

She felt something sort of... slide, in her brain, and became aware of Katy Perry's ET, which she'd associated with Jane. It came as little surprise to her that there were soon soft, tiny hands on her face, and wrist, but she couldn't reboot enough to say anything about it.

She couldn't hear them speaking, anyway, just feel things, specific things, around them, floating in a void.

The screen hovering just below Tony's arc reactor glow caught her attention, and she watched.

In it, she was hovering outside the room, staring in, watching the bad arm be removed and loaded onto a tray. She knew Tony would be dissecting it later, but that didn't stop her from becoming slightly obsessed with it. In her own face, she could see, she went from intense concern over Bucky to wide eyed staring, never once removing her eyes from the thing. She remembered thinking -  _how does it work? Where is the power source? How much damage has it done to Bucky? They're not going to be able to see it. I'll just take a quick look, what harm can it do me?_

The cameras alternated as she followed, leaving surgeons and Bucky and Tony in the room, following the guys taking the limb away to Tony's lab. The speed that she was walking grew steadily more impatient, causing her to jog to catch up, hands automatically bracing her chest.

Somehow, it didn't matter to her that Bucky was laid out cold on a table with a gaping hole where his arm used to be, only that the appendage absolutely needed her attention,  _right now._

She walked in without having to ask JARVIS, hiding behind a desk as the boys offloaded the heavy metal bit onto a desk. ALF rolled over to her, chattering not in human words but in noises that she seemed to understand, nodding and going to the arm.

"Yeah, baby," she said, and sounded so, so far away. "That's some bad, _bad_  tech, in there."

She lifted it carefully, and something sludgy plopped out onto the desk, rotten black in color. She screwed up her nose, stepping away from the splatter, tipping the cavity up to pour the rest of the thick, pulpy muck out, making ALF roll several meters away, propped way up onto his highest setting, looking from a distance.

"Bad tech," she said again. "Oh, god, it was on him for so long - corrupted everything - I don't even know what _that_  is..."

She felt the urgency in the hands trying to shake her awake. Someone was patting her calf. But she didn't reboot, kept watching the video that laid forgotten at the end of her bed.

"It's bad," she said to ALF. "So bad. Poor Bucky. This is - not good, this is bad. Bad tech, bad tech. And Bucky... And Bucky-... _Bucky_..."

ALF whistled something at her, enquiringly.

"No, no, it's not the same." she said, peering into it. "But that's - my arm - isn't compatible with his system. It's not the same. I'll fix it. It'll - hang on, let me process, for a second - "

A cold something nudged against the back of her hand, and she jolted awake, blinking rapidly.

* * *

There was noise all around - too much noise - but from the one place she expected it to be. She realized Jane was there, realized Thor and Clint, Tony, Steve and Pepper, were all there for her, but she put her eyes down to Bucky's metal hand, cold and dead, and put her fingertips over it.

He flinched only fractionally at the flash of energy that lit up her eyes, his own going big on her face.

Tentatively, his thumb swiped over her hand, and most of the noise in the room came to a sudden halt.

"Hey." Tony said. "That wasn't something you could just do."

Darcy smiled on Bucky, his overly expressive face devastating her heart with adoration, with the weight of his hope. He stroked over her hand again, then lifted shiny fingers to her face, touching her cheek like a whisper, his lips popping open when the sensations registered in his brain, entire face going soft.

"How do you feel?" she asked him, quietly.

"I  _can_  feel." he replied, a low, hoarse noise. "Darcy, I can  _feel you_."

"And how do I feel?" she wiggled her brows at him.

He smiled. It was not naughty, or rakish, or anything even remotely sexual - she had the idea that he was on the precipice of crying, his eyes had gone so suddenly blue, mouth pulling tightly at the corners.

"You feel -" he swallowed. "- _Electric_."

"Great, right. The tech is working, huzzah. Maybe his nervous system just healed into the wiring, or something." Tony suggested, clapping his hands.

"Yeah." Bruce looked about as convinced at that idea as of pigs sprouting wings and flying.

"Darcy," Clint patted her other arm. She glanced at him briefly, then back to Bucky, who was stroking her hair, looking delighted. "What happened, huh? You were out for nearly four hours."

"I don't know." she said, softly, watching Bucky's face as he explored, going from her hair to her ear, his fingers clinking against her earring. He beamed, following the line of her jaw around to her chin. "I don't care. I feel great now. Let's go touch couches and stuff."

"Cupcake," Clint said, a little petulantly. "You dropped into a frickin' coma for no apparent reason, a few hours ago. We're waiting on your CAT scans, maybe you should just, not wonder around?"

"I'll be in the Tower." she mused.

"Yeah." Bucky said, cupping her face in his silver hand. "She'll be with me."

"Don't even think about it." Steve said, cutting off both Tony and Clint as they opened mouths to protest. "Darcy is a smart girl and she said she feels fine. There's nothing you can do to hurry along the results by getting her to stay here, so don't.  _Don't._ " he pointed at Clint, who lifted his eyebrows at him.

"What? I wasn't going to do anything."

"If I even get the idea you're in those vents, Barton, so help me." he was Captain America firm, serious brow pulled down. "That goes for you too, Stark. No hovering."

"I do not hover." he said, sniffing self righteously. "I hijack."

"Uh huh." Steve said, flat. "None of that, either. Am I understood, gentlemen?"

Jane covered a smile, elbowing Thor in the side.

"Yes." he said, trying (and failing) to hide his own grin. "I too, grow tired of this hovering and hijacking nonsense. Leave the courting process alone, or you deal with me and Steven both."

" _Courting_?" Tony repeated.

"There's no courting." Darcy said, putting her arm around Bucky's shoulders to sit. He eased her up, his new hand touching her bicep, fingers barely squeezing. He wet his lips at the registered softness, the warmth and pressure, lingering near her for a long second more than strictly appropriate. It didn't matter, however, because Darcy kept her arm over his shoulders to anchor him to her side, her other hand touching his forearm. "We're definitely not courting. Courting implies we're keen on a long-term romantic relationship, but because you guys are always _interfering_ , we've just been sleeping together, so suck it."

Thor blocked Clint from getting up, setting a huge hand on his shoulder. Pepper arched a brow at Tony, who would never admit to blushing, and would destroy any evidence to the contrary.

"That _is_  your fault, actually." she said, smoothly.

"Action and reaction," Jane prodded, protected by her huge alien boyfriend. "You're both familiar with the theory."

Steve got the door as Bucky scooped Darcy up into his arms, the metal one receiving so many sensations his entire left side was awash with goosebumps. She twirled a finger in his hair, feeling like a gooey intern puddle, all happy and chill.

"It's good to see you." she mentioned, as they left the room.

"S'good to see you too, pretty girl."

"I meant like, it's good to see you happy. I- ... I like your stubble." she scratched her nails lightly on his chin - he smelled so good she rubbed her face against his soft shirt, shutting her eyes when he tilted his head to give her room to rest her temple. It didn't stop her from being aware of his cheeky grin, even without seeing it.

"Thought you did. Been growin' it out."

"It's really, really nice. Your face is nice." she lifted her head to look at him. "Hey, I like you a lot."

"I like you a lot too. Wanna tell me why you put me on Barton's shit list?" he arched a brow, watching her studying his face. "And Stark's, too?"

She shrugged.

"I like to throw a proverbial spanner in the metaphorical works sometimes. It's not something I can control."

He barked a short laugh, eyes twinkling.

"You're trouble." he mused.

"You're both trouble." Steve, striding far ahead of them, told the wall.

"Like you're not?" she shot at the back of his head. "You can't tell me Bucky started all the fist fights in back alleys back in the day, buster, I'm so onto you."

Bucky snickered, looking equal parts debauched and delicious. Darcy reached up and dragged gentle fingers over his scalp, smiling slowly at the very amused expression on his face.

"So." Steve said, not bothering to turn around. "I'll be in my room. You two have fun touching things. Keep the noise down."

Neither Darcy, nor Bucky, made him a promise of any sort.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> EDIT: Yeah, not entirely sure what just happened but this is the chapter I meant to post... it just came up no. 28 instead of 27? WHUT.
> 
> Okay, so. Darcy's big reveal is next chapter. Most things will be explained, some go unanswered as yet; however, they will be ultimately. It's okay, I promise :)
> 
> Thanks for reviews!!


	28. Chapter 28

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> WARNING: The following chapter contains trigger material of a delicate nature. If there are concerns about what you can and can't read, a proper list will be in the bottom notes.

Bucky and Darcy legitimately touched the mirco-suede couches and each other in the sense that there was hair patting and face stroking. There was no moment in which Bucky wasn't trying to touch her; her clothes got similar attention, and he was very amused by her bellybutton ring.

"Please be dressed." said a husky voice, in way of greeting.

Bucky swiveled around to stare at the Black Widow, lounging with ease on the kitchen bench. He hadn't even noticed she was there, so entranced by playing with Darcy's belly.

"Did Barton send you?" he said lowly.

"No. It occurred to me that I'm sick of the unsubtle sneaking around and people avoiding each other." Natasha said. "I'm hosting a communal party in my lounge room tonight. Everyone is invited, even Loki. Pass it along."

"Do you want me to bring a plate?" Darcy wondered, sitting up. She knew it looked suss - her laying down behind the back of the couch, Bucky braced over her, but she didn't care. It was the longest she'd spent with him without interruption, and it was the longest she'd gone without being an awkward turtle in front of him. "Have you even had a cupcake of mine, yet?"

"I've tried." the woman replied, looking majorly impressed. "But every time I make an attempt, someone beats me to that particular punch."

"What's your favorite flavor?" she said, and just like that, the Widow smiled at her.

"I love anything made of chocolate." she was told, and eyed Bucky. "You can bring something too."

"I can do that." he nodded.

She sauntered away, looking pleased with herself.

"Congratulations on your arm, Barnes."

"...Thanks." he said, just before the elevator doors closed.

Steve stuck his head out of his room.

"Is it safe to come out?"

"He knows full and well we aren't doing anything." Bucky muttered. "The little punk."

"I heard that!"

"Can you hear this?" Bucky hollered back, flipping him off in the general direction of Steve's room.

"In front of the lady, Bucky, really?"

"I'm not a lady." Darcy said, pouting.

"Nah." Bucky said, bending to touch her belly ring with a metallic clink. "But I think we both like you better this way, anyhow."

* * *

Tony and Bruce where playing virtual chess, nearly head-to-head, focused so hard they weren't speaking, just smacking the little clock every two seconds to indicate that a move had been made.

Jane, Thor and Loki stuck to holographic Twister in compromising positions - the Trickster had been ill-received, right up until he started showing off his arsenal of  magic tricks with a deck of cards, making Sam Wilson  _lose his mind_  with excitement by somehow getting his chosen and signed card into his wallet without anyone noticing.

Natasha, and Pepper picked at a selection of cupcakes that Darcy and Loki (her baking minion) had made for the occasion, chatting quietly, observing from their curled up positions on the couch.

Bucky and Steve had shown up with burgers and a bag of banana lollies, and were telling anyone who would listen about how they tasted like  _real_  bananas - Tony had ordered a bunch of cheeses, biscuits and dips, and Bruce had made his own salsa. Thor had brought in a spit roasted boar, and couldn't legally say where he got the animal.

Clint - who had bought five large pizzas with various toppings - was sitting with Darcy, tag teaming Steve and Bucky on Mario cart. It was projected on a screen the size of the wall it was on, crystal clear quality.

It was not the best idea they had ever had. Competitive fervor ran hot, between the collective bros that had no business playing games when they could individually topple the tower they lived in.

"Blue shell, bitch." Darcy muttered, and knocked Steve off the rainbow road. Captain America swore a Thor worthy vengeance, his Princess Peach icon screaming as she fell into an abyss.

"What is the purpose of that game?" Loki had a tongue pinched between his teeth, face nearer to Thor's presented ass than he ever thought possible. Vaguely, he considered his life choices that had lead him to use his free time thusly, and glanced over at the screen, frowning, while Jane and Thor both tried to organize the tangle of their limbs.

Bucky swore, loudly.

" _Fuckin'_  - Barton, fuck off with your invincible star bullshit, you little  _bastard_!"

"Catch me if you can, sucker." Clint sped away, taking the lead, smirking.

"Naw, baby." Darcy ribbed Bucky lightly, lingering a little longer than necessary on the cut of his rib cage. "You're so cute when you're mad."

"You can fuck off too." he muttered, and reached across to knock her joystick.

"HEY!" Her Yoshi sadly sailed off the road, adorably gurgling. "STEVE, BUCKY'S CHEATING!"

"Bucky." Steve tried to sound firm, but ultimately didn't care, because he had taken second place when Darcy fell. "Quit."

" _You_  quit." he lifted his controller out of Darcy's reach as she tried to knock it with her elbow and continue to play the game. "Oh, c'mon, Lewis, you're better than that."

"No I'm not!" she promised him, swiveling around in her seat to lean her back heavily on Steve's bicep, kicking out playfully at Bucky's human arm with her fluffy socks.

He just took it, not even half annoyed, trying to play the game while she kept knocking him off course. Finally, just as they were approaching the last lap, he put the controller down and grabbed her ankles, digging merciless fingers into the soles of her feet.

"Wait- wait -  _no_!" she kicked and struggled hard, but he didn't let go. "Bucky - BUCKY NO."

"Bucky yes." Steve said, glued to the television. "Red shell, Barton, I've got you now."

"Yeah, right." Clint had perched on the back of the couch, and glanced across as Darcy shrieked and squirmed, trying to free her feet. "Can you two keep it down? I'm trying to win here."

"Yeah, you two." Tony said, lips pressed tightly together, eyeing them while Bruce tried to calculate his next move. "Cut it out before I involve my suit."

"I'm not into that." Bucky said, amused. Darcy tried to pry his fingers loose, giggling, struggling hard, her controller long forgotten on the ground. "What do you say, doll, you want Papa Stark to come take care of big bad Bucky, or can you handle me yourself?"

Tony  _glared_.

Pepper politely sipped her tea, watching her beau over the rim of the mug. Bruce kicked Tony's shin but didn't get a reaction, not even when he took Tony's last rook. Clint thought about throwing his controller at Bucky's head, but estimated that the super solider would catch it.

"It's okay, Papa Stark," Darcy said, still laughing. "I've got him."

"That's what worries me." he muttered into the board, hands clenching into fists on the table.

Thor made one false move on the floor and everyone toppled in a messy pile, earning a bolt of bright laughter from Thor, and a reluctant snicker from Loki. Everyone not staring at the TV or the chess board looked across to applaud and determine who they thought was the winner. Except for Jane, thankfully on the topmost part of the puppy pile, who looked through her curtain of hair to see Darcy pull Bucky's shirt down to plant a kiss on his mouth.

Bucky's eyes stayed open for a long second, half doubled over her, brain processing for a long second. Then he shut his eyes - lashes long enough to brush against Darcy's lids as he did so, letting go of her feet to prop his arm up over her head.

Clint was the second person to notice, going so still he neglected to steer Toad and Steve zoomed past, fist pumping hard when he won.

Bucky broke the kiss, leaning back, wide eyed and pouty mouthed, tongue darting out to wet his lips.

Darcy just grinned up at him, reaching up to tuck his hair behind his ear.

"Gotcha." she said, utterly pleased with herself.

"Hook, line 'n' sinker." he murmured, and sat back, pulling her up into sitting with him. He touched her face with the tips of his metal hand, delighting when warmth and softness registered in his skull. He swallowed, looked at her mouth, then at her eyes, her pupil blown, focused on his face.

"Oh, hey now," Steve said. "That's weird. Yoshi just won the game... but you're not even touchin' the controls, Darce."

"I have magic powers." she said slowly, and turned to tell him so.

Steve looked between them, the glower Bucky aimed over her head, the slight pink in her mouth, the way her legs were over his lap and his hands were hovering around her face and realized he'd interrupted something that was gonna earn him a punch in the arm later.

"Uh." he said, because Steve was an articulate man. "Let's watch a movie."

"I'll pick." Clint said quickly, throwing his controller down, oddly enough making it bounce back on the cushions to hit Bucky square in the chest.

The Avengers - plus Loki, Sam, Pepper and Bucky - all piled on the couch for the flick, spending half an hour deciding on Labyrinth before they even put it on. Tony didn't want the lights dimmed, but Pepper insisted, dragging him to the opposite side of the couch to Bucky and Darcy. Bruce helpfully commandeered Clint into giving him a hand with drinks and popcorn, while Natasha insinuated herself on Darcy's side, giving the archer a sly smile when he went to retake his seat.

Bucky had both arms around the curvy intern, stroking her hair, eyes on the TV but not at all focused. She was cuddled up, in a knitted ball of fluffy socks and comfy clothes, head resting against his chest. The steady drum of his heart, and the internal click-and-whirr of his metal arm lulled her to sleep faster than she'd ever known.

Unfortunately, she had a dream.

It was more or less one of the bad ones, where she was speaking and crying, calling for Clint and someone to help her. And although it was more subdued than running through broken glass and brandishing a knife at Captain America, it was still more than enough for Loki to have to gently rouse her into waking.

Bucky was holding onto her hands, where they were trying to rip at her own face, looking devastated and wounded in ways she couldn't solve. Clint and Tony were immediately behind Loki, who was talking to her in a low, gentle voice.

"This needs to stop." Tony stressed, a thumbnail shoved in his mouth, chewed to the quick.

"You need to stop." Clint said sharply, throwing him a dirty look.

"No, _this needs to stop_." he looked at Darcy, who was clinging to Bucky, her face blotchy and wet from tears. "I can't fix it if I don't know what's wrong."

"I-..." she breathed, looked at Clint from under her lashes. He was brooding, staring unblinkingly at her, waiting for a cue. "Should I?"

"If you don't wanna talk, don't. They can't make you." he shifted, jaw flexing. "I'm on your side, whatever you want."

"D'you think-" she took a long breath in. "-I should?"

"I think," he said, slowly, though darkly. "It'd make things easier. I think that they'd be on your side too. But if you don't want them to know, then don't say a word. I can get us out."

She took a long pause, swallowing, looking up at Bucky with a hand pressed to her mouth.

"I'm gonna have to tell  _you,_  aren't I?"

"You don't gotta say a thing, sweetheart." he rumbled, hands finally releasing her wrists to smooth over her face. He traced the line of her brow down to her jaw, and tilted her head up with the tip of a metal finger. "But if you want to give me his name, I can make him go away."

She shut her eyes, tucked her face back into his chest, squeezing him tightly. Loki frowned hard enough to hurt his face, taking a seat beside her on the couch.

He studied the way she'd gone so small, closed off, and did not like it, not one bit.

"Woah," Sam said. "Casual murder threats. Should I leave?"

"Probably." Natasha said. "I'll collect you when we're done."

"If you need me," he told Darcy, putting a hand on his chest. "I will be devouring what is left of the pizza in the kitchen, and I happen to superhero and council on the odd occasion."

She nodded at him, glanced at Loki, then down.

Loki was not happy, turning to look at Jane.

"How much do you know?"

"Not as much as I thought I did." she replied quietly. "I thought it was just a boy."

"Boys I can handle. This one's... he's a..." Darcy put a hand over her eyes, which Bucky removed gently. His hand carefully squeezed her fingers, and he went soft, his gaze stable and supportive.

"Do you have his current location?" Thor growled.

"I can make him go away." Bucky offered again, casually. "Just gimme a name."

"She doesn't want it." Loki told him coldly. "Doesn't  _want_  you to hurt him, this boy, for whatever he has done.  _Don't_  offer again."

Bucky glared at him, hand carefully petting Darcy's hair.

"What boy?" Tony went and knelt before her. "Darcy? Who's legs need breaking? I can do that, too, you know."

"Not exactly. And 'sides, you're gonna have to get in line." Clint's eyes were a hard, crystal blue, his aggression not aimed at anyone in the room. He was wound tighter than the string on his bow. "I wanna give the prick a round two. Or I'd be happy to toss him to the Hulk."

"He'd be happy to oblige." Bruce muttered.

"Ouch." Loki murmured, a sentiment his brother echoed.

"If someone's been picking on you, Darce," came Steve's warm promise. "That's nothing to be ashamed of."

"Yeah, I got all these new sensors I wanna try out." Bucky cracked his knuckles, and the mechanical arm whirred, as if it sensed violence. Her laughter was half hearted, but entirely appreciative, and she put a hand on his mechanical bicep, thumb stroking the sensors. He would never admit to anyone, ever, that goosebumps exploded down his spine at the effect it had on him.

"Darcy?" Tony scowled at her silence. "Come on. You've got all these guys jumping to defend your honor. What's up?"

"Well..." she shifted uneasily. "I met this guy."

"Ian." Clint supplied.

"Ian?" Jane repeated.

"Your intern?" Thor rumbled.

She smiled at him, though it was a painful looking one.

"I met him after Thor touched down in New Mexico. I may or may not fudged his credentials so you'd hire him along in London and we could hang out more."

"Oh." Jane said, blinking. "But he was so good with the machines..."

"No, he was good at parroting back what I told him to say about the machines." she corrected.

"He was... strangely predisposed." Thor said, frowning slightly. "Tell me more."

"If you want." Clint said, firmly.

"I- I want. I've had enough of not talking." she swallowed, looked up at Bucky, then back down at her hand on his arm. She moved her fingers to link with his, and her brought her hand to his mouth to kiss each of her knuckles. "It's just -... You know. My origin story, why I am how I am. It's not, you know. Fun and rainbows."

"You wanna stop," Bucky murmured. "You can."

"I know. Thank you. I-... It was - you know, after Thor came down the first time, when the filthy jack booted thugs stole my fricken iPod. I was hanging around trying to get it back, and, this guy walks up to me, and smiles and it was like - fireworks. He gave me my iPod right from his pocket, told me he'd liked the music so much he thought about keeping it." She swallowed, looked at Clint nervously, mouth trembling on her words.

"Maybe cut out the romantic stuff." he suggested, and she nodded quickly, rubbing her cheek against Bucky's shirt.

"Yeah. Well, cutting a long, long story short - he and I-... Were really close, really quick. Like, movie extreme, intense, blurred outlines and slow motion walks on the beach. There was a Whitney Houston soundtrack and everything. He made me a playlist. Think Jane and Thor, but like, my age."

"You're making me anxious." Tony told her flatly.

"Take your time." was Steve's words of wisdom. She gave him doe-eyes, thanking with her gaze, before she gave them all a quick sweeping look. She may or may not have paused on Loki for just a second longer than the others, before she dropped her stare to the floor.

"He liked all the things I liked. He had read all the books I'd read. He woke and slept when I did. He made my favorite foods to a T. He was funny and I really- I really thought..." she trailed off, squeezing Bucky's hand. "And then he introduced me to his dad."

"Me." Clint confirmed.

"We were all hanging out. We chilled for like a week. Shot pool, got drunk. And we were like, this little happy family. My dad- my dad wasn't, you know, I've mentioned how he wasn't - around, and his parents were dead, so Clint kind of, stepped up for the both of us."

* * *

_"Shut up, old man!"_

_"No seriously. You're adorable. I've known exactly zero women like you."_

_"You just told me I was the sauciest cat ever, how is that adorable?!"_

_"Saucy and bad are different - you're genuine and kind. It's fricken endearing. I honestly don't think you have a bad bone in your body."_

_"Not yet she doesn't." Ian whistled innocently, and Darcy smacked his arm. "Hey! Well, you don't!"_

_"I won't if you keep up that nasty talk. I am a lady." she smoothed her jeans._

_"Yeah, a lady with a tazer and a nice right hook." Ian put his arm around her. "And my heart on a silver platter."_

_"Too thick." Clint told him, but had to avert his eyes when lo, the charming worked and she was drawn into a sweet kiss. "Jesus Christ, you two. In public, really?"_

_"This is about as much action as dear old dad is gettin' in a year." Ian mused against her chin, making her laugh. "No really, you should meet some of his previous girlfriends. Like Natasha."_

_"Natasha wasn't my girlfriend."_

_"You wish Natasha was your girlfriend. God, she's amazing. Let me tell you about the time she dyed his pubes blue without him noticing."_

* * *

"How could I not?" Clint's smile was strained. "Kid like you? Who wouldn't want you?"

She smiled at him. Tony's jaw clenched. Bucky gently knuckled a tear that had fallen from her eye without permission.

"My ma... She was... Really bitter, about my dad. She said he was on all of the drugs, and that he was probably gonna OD before I met him, but I kind of envisioned him as like you. Or maybe you." she offered Tony, and he relaxed, though his teeth remained clamped together. "I don't know. It was just... really good, for a while. I had this great guy, this great father-figure. Had everything going for me, for once. Got extra credits from Jane and passed in the top percentile of my class, had all these job offers coming in thanks to strings pulled in S.H.I.E.L.D..."

Clint cocked a half smirk. Darcy couldn't even look at him, couldn't look at any of them, just at Bucky's hand twisted with hers, metal thumb swiping over her inner wrist.

"I'm not - a weakling. I'm not... A damsel, in distress. I have never been, like this - hung up on a guy. Not even my dad, you know? He walked off into the sunset, and I was fine. I didn't care. It was his loss. But Ian comes around and my whole world... everything got all shook up."

"You loved him." Steve ventured quietly.

Darcy didn't confirm it, though she didn't deny it. She acknowledged the sentence with a long stare over her shoulder, then turned her gaze back to their hands.

"Clint had to go 'working'. We kept in touch, texts and Facebook, whatever, but we just sort of, stopped. Life got busy. Ian and I were - we moved in together, got a puppy, put our Ikea lounge together without too much abuse. And then I found this - file, on his computer. I'm kind of handy with computers, so even if it was deleted I could source through most of it and pull it back up. This file had my whole name on it, Darcy May Lewis, 'RcN'."

"Recon?" Bucky's brow came down, and his mouth drew into a hard line.

Clint nodded, jaw tense.

"There was  _months_ worth of surveillance on me. From like, before New Mexico. On my schooling, my police records-"

"You have a-?" but Steve's innocent question was cut by the look Tony gave him. He settled back in his seat, waved her on.

"Everything. My frequented places. Foods and drinks, cataloged by how often and how frequently I had eaten and drank. When I woke up during the night and what crappy reality TV put me to sleep. I called him out on it but, he was really sorry. Said he thought that, I was just too perfect, that he'd get one chance at me, and he really wanted to make me happy, really wanted to make us work. He explained he worked for S.H.I.E.L.D a little deeper than just returning stuff and that's how he knew a lot of what he knew about me."

* * *

_"Here." he was crying, the big baby, was he handed her a fancy looking swipe card, a bunch of other cards with his name and face on them, his status, the same long number, the same shit that meant nothing to her. He wiped his face. "And Clint's not my dad. He's my boss. He's training me up for S.H.I.E.L.D. Please don't be mad. I- I just-"_

_He closed his eyes, and more tears fell. His shoulders were shaking, and he hid his face in one bruised, cut up hand._

_"I was lonely and had nothing better to do with my time, and I wanted to impress Clint and- I was new to the whole surveillance thing and you were just- so, so perfect-"_

* * *

"I let him off. I don't know why. No one shows much interest in me. I'm not... worth it."

* * *

_"Hey." she said warmly, putting the creepy stalker red flags aside. "Hey. Quit it. I'm a Lewis - I'm built tough. It takes a little more than... this, to scare me off. C'mere." and she pulled him up into a big kiss. His arms went around her like vices, like he never wanted to let go. And Darcy thought it was nice to have that assurance, that devotion, and intensity._

_What the hell did she know?_

* * *

"I thought I loved him, so I just went along with it. I mean, he'd deleted the file so I could kind of see he was changing, quietly, by himself. I told him, maybe he should start, you know, developing his own thing, so he did. And he took more and more time away to do it, came back all busted up and broken."

* * *

_"Hey, you look like shit." she offered, wrapping him up in a warm kiss and hug._

_He sagged, putting his face on her boobs, arms winding lazily around her waist._

_"My hands are so sore I can't close them." he murmured._

_"I'll feed you." she promised, and kissed his head._

_"You're also gonna have to take off your own bra." he smiled, and kissed the top of each breast, before the underside of her chin, and both cheeks. "God, I love you."_

* * *

"He'd picked throwing knives for his thing. He said it would improve his career and it would keep him occupied. And what the hell would I know, I just let him do it to get him out of my space, the clingy bastard. We did London, and I thought everything was fine until Clint called me, asked if I'd seen Ian lately. When I told him we were living together he said to run, to meet him at some hotel."

* * *

_"You got D Lewis, make it quick, I need to pee."_

_"You're such a charmer, cupcake."_

_"Clint!"_

_"Nice to know I leave an impression."_

_"How are you?"_

_"Fine. You?"_

_"Aside from a full bladder, peachy. To what do I owe the pleasure of this call, you lazy bum?"_

_"I resent that."_

_"I resent missing you like I do. Whatever. Don't start."_

_"Heh. Sorry. Been busy, you know how it is. It's good to hear from you."_

_"You too. So Thor is totally real, told ya so. Hanging out with a bunch of humans, saving the world and whatever."_

_"Yeah, not so much a fan of the little brother."_

_"That'd make two of us. The whole taking over the world thing? Not okay. He's on the shit list."_

_"All the shit lists. Namely, mine."_

_"What'd he do to you?"_

_"I don't have time to go into it. Let's just say he touched down on Earth and I wasn't myself for a while."_

_"Mysterious."_

_"Fairly. Hey, have you seen Ian lately? Remember Ian?"_

_"Hmm, let me think, your wayward science not-son, spent most of my time with my tongue in his throat?"_

_"That's the one."_

_"Well, I think I recall the man I seen this morning."_

_"... This morning?"_

_"Yeah. The one I'll be sleeping with tonight, seeing as we're still a thing and live together."_

_"..."_

_"Clint?"_

_"You live with him?"_

_"Yes, I do."_

_"..."_

_"Clint, what's wrong?"_

_"I haven't seen him since a few days after I left from you."_

_"What? But- it's been months!"_

_"Darce-"_

_"Hang on, he said you gave him the money to get the apartment?"_

_"What money?"_

_"Clint, he came in with like, two hundred grand in a bag and told me that you'd given it to him at the airport... And he said he was getting training. For work. At S.H.E.I.L.D."_

_"Darcy, no. He quit his job. That was why I left. He's been outta work for months."_

_"Oh, shit," she rubbed her head. "I'm sensing something has gone really wrong here."_

_"No kidding. Darce, you need to pack a little bag, and then meet me on Raymond street, Sunny Breeze hotel, ASAP. Don't bring him. Don't tell him where you're going. He's not there now, is he?"_

_"I think I just heard his car-"_

_"Get out. Right now. Fuck the bag."_

* * *

"Officially, he was demoted from active agent status for lacking in his paperwork. Unofficially, he was suspect to a bunch of petty infringements and unauthorized abuses of his power within ranks." Clint murmured. "He was my shadow, he was supposed to be learning from me. I'd had him for about six months and never knew how weird he was, just that something wasn't right. I thought it was strange that me 'n' Coulson had been called to the middle of nowhere, New Mexico. But apparently he's tech savvy too, 'cuz we found out that we weren't originally signed to the case." he sighed.

"Coulson knew something was up. He was baby sitting Tony at the time, so why'd they jerk him around like that? I thought that they knew somethin' big would come of it. When I first saw you." he grinned at Thor. "Mess up that big dude. Had an arrow trained on your eye. Coulson made a different call, and aren't we damn glad he did?"

"Indeed." Thor rumbled, unhappy with the turn of Darcy's mouth, the way she couldn't meet Tony's eyes.

"Keep going, baby girl." Tony told her. "What happened?"

"I went to meet up with Clint, got a little bag packed like he said to, just my laptop and charger and some stuff." she took in a big, shaky breath, and when she deflated, sunk into Bucky's side a little more. He obliged, tightening his arms around her. "Ian came home, but he came home nervous. Bouncing around the place, I thought he was high. I told him I was meeting up with a friend for coffee and he said he'd change his shirt and come too. I said it wasn't necessary. He insisted, said he'd missed me. I said that I wanted to meet them privately, and he got mean."

* * *

_"Them?" he repeated, narrowing his eyes. "Not, 'her'?"_

_"No, it's a guy." she confirmed. "Oh come on, I'm not sleeping around on you. I just want to have... some me time."_

* * *

"And then he started yelling."

* * *

_"You - stupid bitch!"_

_"Woah, hey!"_

_"I thought I could trust you!"_

_"What the hell've I done that you can't?!"_

_"How could you do this to me? HOW COULD YOU DO THIS TO_ _**US** _ _?!"_

_"Woah, calm -"_

_"I WILL NOT CALM DOWN!"_

* * *

"And then he stopped and he drew a knife and cut open the bag I had."

* * *

_"Why are you taking a laptop to meet a friend?"_

_"Okay, just hold on a sec-"_

_"Why've you packed your charger if it's just coffee?"_

* * *

"And then he started to beat me up."

* * *

_A fist in the stomach, a fist in the cheek, an elbow in the chin, her teeth bit through her bottom lip and she vomited when that same knee swung into her stomach, hard. He picked her up and slammed her back into the wall hard enough that her head bounced back off of it twice before she had the motor functions to stop it._

_Something metal clattered across the room and smashed into his face with enough force to make him fall into the counter, halt his attack._

_Darcy, struck dumb and hardly able to breathe, looked around wildly, but no one else was there. She watched Ian inflate in rage, his face ugly with it, and looked at the fridge beside him, rocking from side to side, threatening to fall. The lights above her were flickering, the hotplates on the stove were on and glowing, and the TV turned on, volume wound all the way up._

_It didn't stop her from hearing Ian say:_

_"Now you've done it. Come here, darling, come here. I won't hurt you."_

* * *

"And then he killed Beratheon."

Loki startled.

"Who?"

She swallowed.

"My puppy. He stomped on, and killed, my puppy. I ran for the kitchen to get a knife - my tazer was in my room, behind him. I knew I -  _knew_  - he was going to hurt me. He was talking, sort of - like to a kid. Like I didn't know, if he talked to me nicely. But I knew, I could see it in his eyes, I was going to get hurt no matter what he said. So I got a knife. And then it got blurry, because he stabbed me anyway and I went into shock."

* * *

_The knife burned in a bizarre not-burning, not-aching way that she couldn't correctly explain to someone who'd never been stabbed before._

_It didn't hurt as much as she thought getting stabbed would hurt, but it wasn't pleasant. He was inhaling the screams she was letting out, his free hand shoved up into her solar plexus, so she couldn't do it loud enough to draw attention._

_The fridge fell down flat, the stove caught fire, the TV exploded into smoke and glass. The sandwich press on the ground was vibrating like it was in an earthquake, bouncing around the floor, the extension cord whipping around like a tail._

_It was scarier still when it all went quiet, the only noise registering in Darcy's ears was the sound of the smoke alarm blaring._

* * *

"And then he took me away. I couldn't make myself move, I kept passing out. He was telling me - telling me what he was gonna do -"

"You're safe, kiddo." Tony said. "You're right here."

She swallowed hard, resolved herself.

"Took me to this - warehouse. Middle of the night, so no one else was there, but there were all these machines and machetes and chains, and he lined me up on this - big metal table- told me I was g-getting what I deserved -"

Bruce's hands, which hand closed around his chair back for support, clamped shut. The wood exploded into dust, showering Steve's side with tiny flecks of wood. He held up a hand, looking at the floor, breathing hard.

"Excuse me." he said, and left the room.

* * *

_The support keeping her up was very suddenly gone - she gasped and screamed and put both hands over the now empty hole in her stomach, slamming heavily onto the floor. Blood was everywhere, so hot and wet and then sticky and dry, everywhere._

_Cold, cold, cold. Grit and scales under her hands and knees. She crawled until she slid, slipping in fish guts or maybe her own blood but she got a mouthful of something wet and sticky anyway and promptly threw up, which her stab wounds did not like._

_"Hey, hey Darce, it's me, cupcake, it's me." he touched her hair, rolled her over. "Hey, I'm here now."_

_"Get your filthy circus hands off my-"_

_Clint's fist landed and Ian's jaw clicked out of it's hinge. The archer slammed his head into the table and let him bounce back, already turned away from him to scoop Darcy up into his arms. She struggled, because she didn't know - couldn't see him._

_"Darce. Darcy, it's me, it's Clint."_

_"Ow, ow, ow, ow." she loosened, went pliant in his arms. "Clint?"_

_"Yeah, squirt, it's me. How long've you been hurt?"_

_"Long." she cried, sobbed, heaved at the salty taste in her mouth. Everything hurt, burned, stung. "S-so long. Just off - just off - the - the phone from... from you."_

_"Fuck...fuck! Darcy, wake up, cupcake, stay awake!"_

_"M'I 'spo'sed t' bleed this-ss-s mu-ch?"_

_"Yeah, darlin'. Bleeding happens when you get stabbed. I tried to get to you fast, but there were firefighters and policemen all over your apartment. I'm so sorry. Please, please stay awake."_

* * *

"He hurt me, on that table. And then Clint was there, and he kicked him out the door."

* * *

_Ian stirred with a long groan but Clint was only halfway done with sewing Darcy back together as best he could. She'd couldn't feel much, slipping in and out of consciousness while he did his first aid thing, but she wouldn't stay that way for long._

_"If you don't walk away," the archer told the abuser. "I'll make sure you never walk anywhere again."_

* * *

"And he stitched me up."

* * *

_"There." she could feel the tug of his teeth snapping the string. "How do you feel?"_

_But all she could do was cry. And it hurt to cry, but she couldn't help it. He wrapped his arms around her and held her comfortably close, sighing slightly._

_"I'm sorry, Darcy." he said quietly. "I should've been here. I should've stopped this. I should've known-"_

_"Just-st shut up." she whimpered. "Just shut up with the self hatred, I've got enough of it-t. Shut up. Just-st shut up."_

_He rubbed her arm._

_"Okay. For now. For you. I will."_

* * *

"We went to the hospital. Most of the bleeding had stopped, but there was muck everywhere and she'd been crawling in it. I should've put an agent on her, found that little fucker while I knew where he'd go."

"I needed you." Darcy said dully. "If you hadn't of been there-..."

There was a long, painful pause.

"When Ian had stabbed me," she said quietly. "He didn't just stab  _me_."

She put a hand on her belly, on the scar. She blinked at Tony, because somehow, him knowing was going to make her feel better or worse.

Tony went pale, looking much older than his actual years.

"You were..."

"Pregnant." Clint supplied. "Apparently it grew up, somehow, so she didn't get much bigger."

"Even if the other signs were there, it didn't make sense." she said miserably. "We'd been safe with the pill, so I don't even know how... and we put it down to working stress, living with a boyfriend for the first time stress, and my weight gain he didn't really mind but - but, when he stabbed me, he stabbed  _us_. And..."

She felt distinctly like she was going to throw up on Tony's face.

"I think he saw. Something. Our -... I think when he opened me, he saw... and I think he wanted to try and save the..."

* * *

_She went on to live with Clint for long months as her belly healed. He watched her like a hawk. They slept in the same bed or Darcy woke up screaming and trying to claw her someone's face off, or running into the kitchen to grab a knife. Either that, or Clint tried to strangle her one night when she got up to pee, forgetting he had company._

_The one time she left to go to hospital by herself, some four months later, Ian had posed as a doctor and just about kidnapped her away; Clint however, kicked in the door and leveled an arrow at his eye. The younger ex-agent barely dodged it, leaving a deep bloody slice above his eyebrow, and dove head-first out the window._

_A week later Darcy offered to get coffee, feeling a bit like she was becoming a recluse. She saw him on the street corner, staring her down, when Clint put his arm around her and Ian was forced to walk away. The cut from Clint's arrow was a thick, pink scar across his forehead... Darcy didn't leave the house after that._

_Not willingly. Never alone._

_He made her breakfast she could hardly wait to eat, and she gave him the world's best shoulder rubs in addition to her cupcakes. They weren't friends, they weren't family, but between them both suffering through their own pitiable issues, they were something, together. He was going through the fallout of some mind control stick and she had just lost a child she didn't know she had by being stabbed by the love of her life thus far, so they matched out pretty evenly, weighing the lows with a high that only the other could bring._

_She kept him sane; he kept her safe._

* * *

"So I lived with Clint for a while and - then he told me that Ian had this, airtight alibi."

* * *

_"What do you mean, he's gonna get away with it?" there was a short, high strung pause. "CLINT!"_

_"Look, I don't know what he's done-"_

_"HE FUCKING STABBED ME, IS WHAT HE'S DONE."_

_"I know that."_

_"HE KILLED A BABY."_

_"I can't explain it, Darce, I can't even figure it out." he folded tight arms across his body. "He's either paid off the right people or he's a genius. Neither of which would've been my bet, coupla months ago. I've let you down again, and I'm sorry." he rubbed his face._

_"Jesus, Darce. I am so sorry. I can't do anythin' right."_

_"Shut up. Just- Ugh. I can't. The feels. Don't do that." she came at him, and although he protested mildly she wrapped him up in a Lewis-bear-lock hug and didn't let him go until he stopped apologizing and grumbling. "It's okay, Clint, shut up a second, like - I promise you. I promise. As long as I'm here- as long as I'm with someone - with you -"_

_"Darcy - I should've-"_

_"I don't care."_

_"You're a bad liar, cupcake."_

_"I told you to shut up, old man."_

* * *

"No one could prove he'd been there or had stabbed me. I didn't press charges because it should've been logged we were an item, and it wasn't, and I was already in trouble with Nick about- well... something." she rolled her eyes up to Bucky. "He wanted me to go to this fancy school for gifted students or something, and I basically disabled his communications system so bad they just got a new one instead of trying to fix the other one."

Tony wasn't breathing.

"But I couldn't be left alone. If I was, he'd get me."

* * *

_"I'm coming with you." she told Clint easily, tossing down the debrief for a mission in Quebec._

_"Where'd you get that?" he was amused._

_"I printed my own. Knew something was up."_

_"I have like, a fifty letter password."_

_"I know my way around a keyboard. I'm coming with you to Quebec."_

_He sighed, put down the bow string he'd been oiling._

_"C'mon, cuppy cake-"_

_"I've already booked a ticket."_

_"You can't."_

_"Wasn't asking."_

_"Darcy."_

_"You need me." she reminded him carefully, to which he personally agreed. "I'm the normal you need."_

_"I know that. But you can't come."_

_"I need you, too."_

_He stood then, weary, feeling old and tired. He put the bow down and wiped his hands mostly clean of oil while she watched him with narrowed, watering eyes. She was under his skin, and in his profession - with beings like Loki able to get into his head with a glowstick - it wasn't so good to have someone close like she was. Distance would be good for her, even if it wasn't for him._

_"No, you don't." he took her face in his hands._

_"I need you, Clint."_

_His thumbs stroked at the tears sliding over her cheekbones._

_"You're going to be fine."_

_"If you leave me alone," she said darkly. "I'll end up dead."_

_"Don't say that." he retorted testily. "You know I've got your back, even when I'm not here."_

_"He won't get me..." she swallowed. "I'll beat him to the punch."_

* * *

"So Clint covered our tracks and took me to Jane..."

* * *

_She didn't go without a fight, which he was kinda expecting._

_He threatened to subdue her, but he wouldn't do it and they were both well aware. She threw fists and kicks and kneed him in the balls until he zip tied her hands to her feet and hoisted her into the back of his car like a stuck pig. She managed to get the door open but he snatched her back before she could fling herself out of the moving vehicle._

_"Jesus Christ, Lewis, stop wiggling!"_

_"NEVAAAAAAR."_

* * *

"He told me he'd hang around in case-" her voice cracked, and she put a hand up over her mouth.

"In case he showed up again." Clint continued where she couldn't, taking up the part of the story he could share. "I hung around for a week or so. Gave Darcy my direct line and told her to call me if she so much as felt watched, gave her a tazer, surveillance equipment. I didn't wanna go, but you know. Dickin' around out there isn't exactly making anyone believe I'm sane."

"The insects." Loki's mind suddenly clicked, as though slotting two matching puzzle pieces together. "The magic you used to alert us to S.H.I.E.L.D coming. When you took us into the desert."

She nodded.

"You insisted, you herded me into the box... It wasn't about them finding me. You wouldn't be alone." he realized, and blinked at the top of her head.

"You bugged S.H.I.E.L.D?" Natasha clarified.

"Mm-hmm." she swallowed heavily. "Told you, I'm handy with stuff like this."

"All S.H.I.E.L.D facilities have cameras, even temporary ones." she pointed out. "There are multiple firewalls that are of Stark design. Wireless interference, weapons grade blockers. That's not just handy..."

"Look, I know my way around a keyboard, seriously. I just - fiddled with the tech, a little, so that unless they saw the bugs, or felt them, or... like, knocked them off accidentally, they wouldn't get found. So... I was pretty set. I had to double check he wasn't in there. To check he wasn't coming back for me, or for Jane."

"Which is why you goaded me into following you along to the tent." Loki murmured, his brow slightly drawn. "In the event he were there. No wonder you were so-... Highly strung."

"Chyeah." she cracked a smile for Tony, but it was only brief, and very weak.

"You took me?" Loki was very much still stuck on that part. "Me? Instead of- perhaps, a  _god?_ "

"And get Thor and Jane involved too? No way. You don't understand - this guy was everything to me. He was  _everything_. So I know, I know for a fact, you're better than he is." she said very quietly, and lifted her welling eyes to him. "You're gods' gift to humankind, godly powers or not, compared to him."

She told him what she thought was the truth. He wasn't exactly sure why, but the feeling he got from that was over and above satisfactory, and his brow drew together, his frown so intense it made his face hurt. He didn't understand.

The silence that feel was very heavy, while Jane wiped her face and Thor rubbed circles on her back. Darcy held the stare with Loki until Bucky gave her another reassuring hug that made her gaze drop to her sweaty hands and Tony's left eye twitch slightly.

"Well." Loki said softly, then stood. "I, for one, am not going to sit here in silence while this  _boy_  continues to wonder about. I'm going to collect my cards and have a think about how I want to detain him creatively. Come get me when you have his whereabouts."

"Loki," Darcy said sadly. "We can't pin anything on him, we've already tried. There's nothing anyone can do."

"Lie." he said mildly, giving her a small smile. "I am an illegal alien immigrant with a history of sociopathic violence and one known attempt at taking over your world as you know it. Dealing with a singular human for the atrocity he has caused is the very least of my worries, and will hardly scar my soul any more than it has already been marked." he waited a beat, then eyeballed Tony.

"Let me know." he said smoothly.

Tony nodded, more of a twitch than anything.

There was a long silence, then Darcy smiled at the lot of them.

"So now you know." she said, easily, and looked up at Bucky. "Can I sleep in your guys' apartment, tonight?"

"Of course." he said, giving her a small smile.

Tony was still too caught up in the unveiled information, so much so that he missed that little factoid. He nodded absently to himself, rested a careful hand on Darcy's skull, then left the room with a cloud of vengeance above his head, already muttering to JARVIS.

"...Miiiiight just go make sure he's not going to kill the kid." Clint muttered. Pepper followed in tow, wiping under her eyes, her chin dimpling from compressing her tears.

"Why is it," Natasha wondered aloud. "That every time I host a party, death threats are made and someone ends up crying?"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> TRIGGER LIST:  
> Blood and gore  
> Loss of an infant  
> Animal cruelty   
> Some PTSD like symptoms  
> Inferred threat of suicide


	29. Chapter 29

Bucky twined his metal fingers with hers as they left the room. He was calm, but Steve...was not. He was frowning intensely, jawline awfully heroic when clenched.

Darcy had wanted them to know, because Steve could be trusted to lean on, and if things with Bucky progressed, well...  She wanted him to be aware of why she would be going slow, and why she would be insecure and probably a little bit nervous. Another, larger part of her was convinced that the whole group of Avengers  thought she was being stupid, running around at all hours of any given day. That large part of her was 100% sure that they thought her trauma was not all she thought it was. No one had ever said as much, she had drawn her own conclusions, but it was more than enough evidence for her.

"Want some tea?" Steve said, weakly.

"Yes, please."

Steve debated internally before reaching over and engulfing her in a certified Captain America hug. He was mattress sized across the shoulders, tiny at the waist. She could nearly wrap her entire free arm around him, because the other one wasn't going to let go of Bucky, not for anything in the world (and passing up a chance to get grabby with Captain America was not something to be overlooked lightly.)

"I-" he said. She startled when a hot tear that wasn't hers soaked into her shoulder, his body inflating with a heavy sigh. "Darcy, I'm so sorry that happened to you."

"So am I." she muffled, into the crease of his sternum. "But really, it was over a year ago, now, and... I always feel safe, when there's superheros around."

"And you can stay as long as you want." he told her, leaning back, his iris the most fascinating shade of blue. He gave her arms a reassuring squeeze. "As long as you need, we can do up a room for you if you want."

"Or," Bucky said slowly. "You can just stay in my room."

Steve gave him an incredulous look, like,  _Bucky, no, don't you be your panty-dropping self when Darcy's so emotionally fragile_.

"I can-" Bucky went on, gently squeezing her fingers. "Take the couch. If it means you'll stay."

She swallowed, glanced at Steve.

"Tea?" she said lightly, and even if he was probably going to hear the following conversation anyway, she'd prefer it if she didn't have to see his beautiful, emotionally charged expressions.

"Sure." his mouth made a sad attempt at a smile, but he turned and went to the kitchen and studiously avoided looking at them when they retreated to Bucky's room.

Like the rest of the apartment, it was very clean, and very dry. There was a bookshelf with some historical tomes and comics, a baseball still in the box, and two CDs. One was the Jackson 5, the other was Lady Gaga. Darcy had no idea how either of those two things related or who gave them to him, and was kind of devastated that she had no idea of his musical preferences. She moved on to the unmade bed that looked all sorts of inviting to her, but not the utilitarian precision in his straightened and neat desk. There was a laptop, a lamp, a pen, a stack of blank paper, all parallel, all in line with the horizon of the desk.

"Darcy," he said, lifting her knuckles to his mouth. He pressed one, two, short kisses to her wrist, never looking away from her eyes. "Can I ask you something?"

"Only if I get to ask you something." she replied, staring unashamedly at his mouth. 

"'Course." he nodded. He studied her, eyes darting between her own, searching for something she didn't know how to shoe "Was that Loki guy right, when he said you don't want me to kill Ian?"

She flinched at the name, slowly removed her hand from him, going to inspect the spines of his books. Half of them weren't even cracked, but the ones that were had been read repetitively. Feeling strangely vulnerable, she wrapped arms around herself, shrugged.

"Yeah, he was."

"Why's that?"

"I just... Don't."

Bucky was quiet for a long minute, so quiet she had to turn to see what he was doing. He hadn't moved other than to curl his hands into fists by his sides.

"I want him to hurt." he told her, frankly. "You wouldn't have to see it, just know he was as far gone as you can get."

The honest truth of it was that, for two years, Ian was her best friend, and she had loved him. She had absolutely  _loved_ him. The whole relationship was her prelude to a perfect life; her first real adult relationship, and she'd thought it was going to go the distance, get married, live a better life than her mother had assumed she'd live. Have kids. Share a house. Get old and grey together.

"Why do you have Jackson 5 and Lady Gaga CDs?" she blurted, because apparently, her brain-to-mouth filter was still on the fritz whenever Bucky was around. She turned to watch that settle in his skull, watch the play of emotions on his overly expressive face.

"I like the Jackson 5." he mused, finally, sitting on the edge bed. "And Steve said that Gaga was pop royalty next to Beyoncé, but her music makes me feel sassy as hell and Steve took it away from me when I Z snapped at him. So I got Gaga."

She blinked at him slowly.

"You Z snapped Captain America."

Bucky pursed his lips, flipping his loose hair, and abruptly had the kind of accent that boarded on racial stereo typing.

"Nu uh hunny, you  _know_ he didn't talk to me with that  _sass_  in his voice," he was doing a head side-to-side maneuver, finger up and pointing. "I told him, I said to him, 'Yo Steve, you better listen ta me, buddy, or you ain't gon' get nuna  _this cooperation,_ ya  _feel_  me homes'?" he motioned to himself.

Darcy just about died of laughter, unable to control herself flopping back on the bed. Bucky went on.

"And he said - Darcy, you know what that lil bastard said to me, he says: 'Now Bucky, you just cut that out, you ain't no amazon goddess, leave it to the Queen', and I said: ' _Steve_ , you can't tell  _me_  what to do! I am my  _own_  woman, I don't need your-  _raggedly white boy ass_  to tell me what I'm about! Bitch be  _triflin'_!"

Darcy was rolling around.

"Stop it," she said, gasping. "Stop it before I  _pee_."

"And then I Z snapped him, and he just looks at me, says: 'I know you didn't just do that', and I was all: 'You _know_ I did, whatchu gon' do about it, pretty boy?'" He became abruptly serious. "And then he took away Beyoncé. Because only a few people know that Steve only looks innocent because of his eyelashes - he's actually a very creatively cruel man."

She wiped away tears for the second time that night, only this time they were from laughter. She watched him grin, victorious, and recline back down onto the bed with her, propped up on his human arm. She, still giggling, reached over and ran her fingertips over the metal bicep, causing his eyes to half lid, and grin to list to one side.

"You always do that." she accused softly.

"Do what, bad sass impersonations?"

"No. Do that." she tickled behind his elbow, made his eyes shut for a brief second.

"Feels good." he replied, laying down, head cushioned on his arm. "It always feel better, when you do it."

She beamed, reaching up to pet his hair away from his face, tuck it behind his ear.

"I'm so glad I met you, Bucky." she told him, honestly.

"Yeah," he said, smile fading. "When you met me, though... That wasn't Bucky."

"That was James." she said softly. "I know."

"James is-..." he swallowed. "Not the Solider. He's... sorta both. James is just... confused. He knows he's not a machine but he doesn't know what else he is if he isn't that."

Darcy rolled onto her side, mirroring him, stroking the length of his forearm. There was the sensation of something humming just under the surface of his new plates, something that trickled into her fingers and sank into her bones, making her feel all sorts of nice things, most of them in her chest and head - but some decidedly below the belt.

"You called me James for a long time." he said quietly.

"You were James for a long time."

"Not around you, I wasn't." he murmured. "You made me Bucky better than anything. Steve even said so."

She considered that, the way he'd always been so easy around her, the natural progression of their friendship. The sleeping together, the kiss, how much she felt for him.

"You were always Bucky, to me." she said slowly. "But you introduced yourself as James."

He swallowed.

"There's somethin' about you, pretty girl." he said, low. "Somethin' about you that makes me more man than weapon. I don't know what it is. But as soon as I saw you leave the tower, I knew you were it. You weren't a super and you weren't someone I knew, but I felt like - I knew you. Well, at least, part of me did." his eyes went to the metal arm now hanging on the covers.

"What do you mean?" she whispered.

"When I was made," he said. "I was made as a machine. Without thoughts in my head, programmed for killing and obeying only. When I saw you - the arm got a lesson in how to behave for  _me_." he swallowed.

"If you hadn't of been  _you_ , when I picked you up in the alley, I probably could've squeezed you so hard you coughed up a lung. I don't know how I controlled it. I don't even think it was me. You know how many mugs we've gone through, when you're not around? Eighty four."

She looked up into his face. He continued.

"I'm never more safe to be around, when you're with me." he promised her. "Just - just in case you ever, you know. Get scared. If James or... The Solider... Ever make an appearance."

"I don't think I could be scared of you." she said gently. "Or of James."

"But you would be scared of the Solider." he said. "I want you to be. He's not a nice person - he's a machine."

"He only knows what he's been programmed with." she reminded him. "Machines aren't bad, the people who tamper with them are."

He shut his eyes for the briefest of seconds, as if he wasn't at all prepared for what she had said. When he next looked at her, something had changed, within him, and he reached over with his metal hand to touch her face.

"Darce." he purred. "Be careful what you say to me, about him."

"Why?"

He cupped the back of her head.

"Because you make me understand things I didn't know I didn't know," he replied slowly. "And you make me feel things I forgot I could feel."

She flicked her eyes to his mouth. Despite feeling kinda gross and emotionally drained, Bucky had a way of making her feel, too. She leaned over and pressed a very small kiss to his lower lip, before showing the top the same attention. He just swiped his luke-warm thumb along the expanse of her neck, and kissed her back.

For a few quiet minutes, that's all they did, just kissed, hands gently petting. His thigh firmly between her legs, she made soft mewling noises into his mouth, pouting when he pulled away, stroking her head. He just hushed her gently, tilting his head, then lifted and glared at the bedroom door.

"Are you seriously going to ruin every moment I ever have for the rest of my ungodly life?"

"I'm sorry-" Steve said, sheepish, knocking the door open with his shoulder. In his hands, had had three mugs. "-I was going."

Darcy flexed her hands at him.

"Give me my tea, first."

* * *

 

Darcy kept her eyes shut and breathing even, purely because she was so content with life. Bucky's arm was around her waist and he was tucked up behind her, a serious semi pressed into the crevice of her ass. She stayed still, gauging it, because  _holy shit_  Bucky Barnes had a hard on and it was legit nearly touching her and it was like, a sizable dick, yo.

And for a long second, that was it. Her thinking about his penis and the easy breaths he was taking, just existing in that moment without a care in the world. She was still tired, on the precipice of sleep, when the door opened and someone stepped in the room.

Bucky went tense all over.

"I mean no harm to either of you." came Loki's drawl. "I wanted to see how she was doing."

"She's alright." Bucky murmured.

Loki walked across the room, laying a gentle fingertip against her temple.

"You do not have to glare at me so," he mused. "I've no more attraction to her than to you."

"I hear that's more common than not."

"Let me be more clear." there was definitely a nasty smile on his face, Darcy had been on the receiving end of it more than enough to know. "I'd much rather slam my own skull against a wall than engage in intercourse with you. I look on Darcy the same way I look on -... A sibling."

Bucky didn't reply, continuing to hold her. Darcy fought against consciousness, but she was becoming more and more aware, when all she really wanted was for the safety and warmth of sleep, and the cocoon of Bucky's arms.

"Besides." he went on, voice taking a naughty turn. "She is utterly  _enraptured_  with you."

Bucky's body shifted, just enough that Darcy felt it. His arm sort of, scooped her a little closer to him, and lifted his head to look at the Trickster.

"Yeah?" he muttered. "What do you know about it?"

"I know all about it. More so than say, her dear Mr. Barton. She's been talking to me about you since she bought you here." there was a second's pause. "She's always been fond of you. And while I know that Stark and Barton will both undoubtedly peacock about and make their threats if you harm her in any way, I'm here to offer my own services."

Bucky kept quiet, watching him. Loki smiled. Darcy cracked her eye open only a fraction, watching through her lashes.

"I will act as any kind of distraction, to them, should they interfere with you further." he offered, amused. "I will make the nuisance of myself they know of from legends." he turned on his heel, going to the door, pausing in the frame.

"What's in it for you?" Bucky asked, firmly.

Darcy watched Loki's lips curl into the single naughtiest grin she had ever seen.

"I irritate them within an inch of their lives, and Darcy gets what she deserves."

"And that is?"

The smile softened a touch, eyes flicking to her face. She shut her eye, but when she cracked it open again, he was still watching her, shaking his head slowly.

"Peace." Loki told her, bowing his skull. 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Can you die of a hangover...?


	30. Chapter 30

Tony had found the guy through the leaked SHIELD information all over the web, and was staring at the kid's photo, wondering what the hell kind of act he'd put on for Darcy to have fallen for it, because he wasn't  _that_  pretty. JARVIS was making headway getting through to the important parts of what he needed to know - the  _how_  his alibi saved him, the  _who_  he was allied with, and the more important  _where_  was he now?

Multiple monitors in the center of the arrangement showed a plethora of documented incidents with Ian's number, some photos filtering through faster than his eyes could register. If it was suspicious, JARVIS projected it at the large pin board to his left, red beams acting as string, leading in criss-crosses across the frame.

To his right, the cameras he had snuck into Barnes' apartment on the backs of tiny spider bots, watching the two of them spooning. As long as it was just spooning, it was fine, he didn't have to take the arm back and make a scene. So far, Loki had come in, and to all appearances, been scared off.

That was _good_. Tony'd just gotten ready to gear up and wonder down and drag Loki away, when Loki had left of his own sensibilities, and Tony had wished the tiny spider bots had microphones so he knew what had been said. Maybe he'd ask Clint to lip read it to him. Speaking of the devil, he rolled on a wheely chair over the lab and landed beside him with booted feet up on the desk, glaring at the face on the enlarged screen.

"You can't kill him." he said evenly.

"Why not?"

"Because I have dibs."

"You had your chance." Tony said darkly. "He was was there, and you could've ended a lot of suffering if you had've just cut him in the right place."

"Too bad I was stitching up your kid at the time, am I right?"

Tony flinched, shot the archer a sidelong look, but said nothing. Clint fixed his eyes on the screens, linking fingers on his stomach.

Finally, Tony spoke.

"I don't know what to do. To tell her. Do I take her out to dinner?" he turned forward, stalking around to pick up a wench and brutally start dismantling an old Iron Man gauntlet. "Is there a card for this? Should I buy her a cake?"

"Yeah, I hear they're all the rage with partially orphaned boys and girls." Clint snorted. "A 'surprise, I'm your daddy' cake."

Tony's shoulders went up around his ears like hackles.

"Please don't refer to me as a daddy ever again."

"Yeah, I've upset myself. Point taken." He leaned forward, elbows to knees, hands twisted loosely between his spread legs. "I don't know how you should tell her, Stark, I just know you should. Darce could use the pick me up. Might make this whole... thing, a little easier, to know her father is born and bred superhero."

"Yeah, because her current father-figure and not-boyfriend-boyfriend aren't enough." Tony turned his attention onto Bucky and Darcy's screen to see them still but for breathing. All the kissing that had happened earlier was being ignored with purpose, but he wouldn't forget it without the help of his old friend Captain Morgan.

"I'm not her father-figure." Clint considered Tony's stiff stance, the cross of his arms and focus on the screens. "More her brother, if you wanna look at it like that. But let's talk about how you're not going to kill the ex, and not just because me - and probably Thor, and Bucky, by the looks of things - are going to have switches flipped to do it first."

"I'm not going to kill him." Tony replied.

"That's not going to convince me." Clint said evenly. "You were going to kill Loki for hurting her feelings."

"Loki threw me out of my own tower, I was looking for an excuse to kill  _him_." he glanced at the casually reclining archer. "And to answer your question, I'm going to find out how he got out of being persecuted, and then I'll find him and hand him over to be dealt with by the law."

"The law." Clint repeated. "Really. You."

"Yes, really, me." he lifted his nose. "I am a law abiding American, and such. Patriotism is kind of what Captain Dorito is all about, but I do my fair share."

Clint blinked at him.

"What are you going to do to him, after, he's...'dealt with', by the law?"

"Ah, well now, that's not what you asked me." he smiled at the screens. It was terrifying. "But if you must know, I have a five inch wad of straight up Benny's for the criminal that shanks him the most."

"Huh." Clint nodded. "Okay, when you said creative, I didn't think that kind of creative."

"This is my subtle." he said. "Are you at least kind of impressed?"

"Well, it's a step up from threatening to make people into jelly with proto-type weapons."

"Excuse me," JARVIS said. "But I believe Sir needs to watch this."

Tony became still.

"Barton's good, J. Give it to me."

"As you wish." the butler offered, and lowered the lights, showing a large video.

In it, a younger Darcy Lewis, maybe six if she was lucky, looking at a doughnut maker slowly churning out the donuts at some kind of bakery in the middle of a shopping complex. She was thin to the point of skeletal, knobbly kneed and bony armed, staring with her mouth open as the machine churned out doughnuts. Her clothes were too short at the hem of her shirt and the ankles of her jeans - a backwards cap was crammed full of knots on her head, the choppy mess that was her hair.

She put both tiny, grubby hands up onto the small partition that parted the general populace from the simmering goods, the cinnamon and sugar coasting that made the little girl Darcy lick her lips, put a hand absently on her stomach to rub.

"She's..." Tony said, reaching out to enlarge her image. " _Adorable._ "

"She looks hungry." Clint muttered.

The screen automatically unwound so that both men could see Darcy tap on the glass and tilt her head. The camera fizzed, went to static, then came back on to see the machine waddling heavily backwards, before tipping off the bench. As it fell, the speed of the output increased exponentially - and three doughnuts shot over the partition, onto the floor beside her.

Baby Darcy laughed, bending to scoop them up, put them in her shirt, and skip away merrily, while the machine tipped off the bench and pimple faced youths wondered what the hell was happening.

"I don't understand." Clint pointed out.

Tony glanced at him.

"...Darcy may or may not have an X-gene."

JARVIS helpfully stopped playing the video.

"What?" Clint said sharply.

"Technokenisis. No one is that naturally good with tech, and trust me, I'd know if they were because it would've been me. You can be handy with a keyboard all you want; that doesn't explain the things she's able to do. I can't do some of the things she can do." he paused. "Not without  _trying_."

"Right." the archer said slowly. His eyes flicked to the screen. "That makes a lot of sense, actually."

"Yes, she's brilliant, of course she is, look at the DNA." he turned back to the screen, oozing his pride. "Hit play, J."

Another video. Slightly older Darcy walked into Target without shoes, in her ill-fitting clothes. The cameras went out, and came back on just in time to see her walk out with a stuffed bag, new shoes, and too-big clothes, hair in a neat pony tail. The alarms didn't go off, and she whistled as she walked.

"Ohhhh." Clint said. "The petty thievery on her police record would be when  _people_  caught her, not just cameras or alarms."

Tony leaned a little closer to the screen, inspecting the next video of slightly older Darcy in a locked prison cell, banging on the bars and calling for medical help, the girl who was in the holding cell doubled over the tiny silver toilet, holding her stomach as she heaved. Darcy turned to talk to her but the girl started seizing, body locking in an awkward, contorted position. She started frothing at the mouth, eyes all white, violently shaking.

Darcy put her hands over her mouth, then her eyes - the cameras went fizzy, then the automated lock on the door clicked open, and the door cracked just a peep. Darcy bolted out of there to get help, but didn't return.

The next several videos were all in similar public places - lots of convenient thievery, some cash registers popping open while the cashier wasn't looking (let alone touching), pharmacy locks falling off of more important medications, lots of machines spitting out wares for her.

One of the later ones showed a coffee machine actively shifting around without her even looking - head down in an attempt to study, to all appearances - the tiny screen read 'Free Refills', so Darcy filled up her travel mug, said thank-you, and left. When the next person tried to get theirs, the machine read 'Out of Order', and refused to dispense anything.

After all of the available footage was shown, JARVIS had put up several files in the center of the pin board and circled them in red. There was a beeping, then all the strings joined at the point of the newly revealed files and phone numbers. Tony marched over to it, pacing along the length, following the lines back and forth.

"What is it?" Clint rolled over to the board, looking it over. Things started to match up before his own eyes, and he grit his teeth. "Shoulda known it was Fury."

The former Director had promoted Ian from rookie to Agent to set him on Darcy Lewis for the sole purpose of assessing her mutant ability and the likelihood of her working in their ranks as a mechanical technician.

Ian's reports were all hand written and delivered to SHIELD on paper - but scanned into the system for Tony to access them. JARVIS highlighted the key phrases: 'Total scope of technokenisis unknown', 'Miss Lewis shows no cognitive realization of powers', and 'Miss Lewis displays resilience and resourcefulness without having to frequently use her abilities, and as such does not present herself the opportunity to become self aware.'

"'Miss Lewis would be a valuable asset to SHIELD,'" Tony read out loud. "'I recommend her as compatible and to be acquired at the earliest convenience for training'. He'd been following her for months before he handed in this 'recommendation'."

"It would've been a cushy job. It's not the first time a baby Agent has stayed out longer in the field than strictly necessary, and that includes yours truly." Clint offered. "Surveillance Assessment jobs are a cake walk, which is why the babies usually get them. He would've been put up in a nice place, all food and utilities covered. He would've had to pay for clothes and that's about it. All he had to do was watch her from afar..."

Tony's eyes swept the board.

"I'd say it took him half a day to realize he loved her." he swallowed. "God knows it took me even less."

"He doesn't love her." Clint corrected in a snap. "He's  _obsessed_  with her."

"Still. It doesn't take long to love the kid." Tony looked at him from under his lashes. "How long'd it take you? Couple hours?"

"More like a couple minutes." Clint stared very plainly at the board. "So. Fury accepts the request to make Darcy an Agent of SHIELD, then he implements the observing Agent who already knows her so well to hand over a report to a field operative do a little casual persuading." Clint went on.

"Except she got caught up in the Thor thing and Ian beat them to the punch. That's when the written warnings begin." Tony said, highlighting a screen written in neat typecast, depicting Ian for intentionally sabotaging a known assignment from another agent.

The list went on, citing misuse of SHIELD products and more than one someones wrote him up for suspicious behaviors in regard to his potential SHIELD subject.

Finally, Ian left his job before he was fired, taking with him another hundred thousand in SHIELD cash, several top secret files, and a set of blueprints from SHIELD hideouts. There were a multitude of issued warrants for his arrest and detainment, then a single 'shoot on sight/ maim not kill'.

"Look." Tony pointed at the far right corner. "This is his alibi? He was at a SHIELD held conference in New York, talking to someone just an hour before the smoke alarms went off in Darcy's apartment and blood was found on the scene."

"That was the thing." Clint mentioned, without looking for confirmation at the board. "He couldn't have made it to Maine from there in an hour unless he flew - and I checked, and double checked all flights in an out of there. None were unauthorized and the rest were commercial. I poured through every minute of the footage from every available airport, all our jets and copters, and he wasn't there. Not to mention, with half of SHIELD vetting that he was at the conference, calm and collected as always..."

"Airtight alibi." Tony sneered. "Tricky. Tricky, tricky, tricky."

There was a powerful quiet that hushed over the men, both independently staring at the board, thoughts focused only on the boy that got away with murder. Clint had thought, with stupid optimism, that maybe he'd put all his angry murder-y feelings aside, for Darcy's sake. But no. When stoked, that fire to avenge burned just as hot as the second he realized how much trouble his cuppy cake was in.

Clint was grinding his teeth when his eyes found a series of numbers.

"Tony." he said stiffly, inclining his head toward the center of the board. "When that kidnapper called, you gave him two hundred grand in a bag, right?"

"Right." Tony repeated, and looked at the number, the corresponding dates and times linked to it. JARVIS had quietly aligned the calls from the potential kidnapper with the calls made on Ian's phone. "... _Right_. I paid for him to learn how to throw knives, didn't I?"

"You paid for him to fall off the grid with Darcy." Clint corrected, without a hint of gentleness. "That's why he could afford the place they lived in, and paid the right people to put SHIELD off his scent."

Tony studied the lines, following one back to the left hand side of the board, chewing on the inside of his cheeks.

"One problem." he said, blinking. "None of the SHIELD files identify me as her biological father, and I didn't know before he sent me her hair to test. How did _he_  know?"

Clint stared at the picture of the boy, so innocently smiling at the camera.

"I don't know." his upper lip was pulling up into a snarl he couldn't actively contain. "But I think between the two of us, we're gonna figure it out."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just a further bit of bro-ing between paternal protective daddies Clint and Tony, because whyyyyy not?
> 
> Also, this was entirely written in two hours because PiraticalPrincess said a nice thing and I wanted to give over more to read. :3


	31. Chapter 31

Darcy didn't wake up screaming. Or kicking. Or threatening to stab anyone. Which, you know - improvement, A+. She had been dreaming, but it had been so placid that she couldn't remember what they were about. Slowly, she opened her eyes, snuggling deeper into the covers, legs rubbing in that universally sleep drunk way, her brain buzzing pleasantly.

"Good morning." Bucky purred.

Darcy couldn't stop smiling, opened her eyes to beam at his face.

"Good-" and then she caught her breath, jolting all over. It took her a second of staring before she yanked a fistful of blankets over her head, hiding her cheek against his chest.

"Darce?" he said, concerned. "What's wrong?"

"I'm sorry, I panicked." she said, muffled, against his glorious pectoral. And seriously, his tits had to be at least her size, they were absolutely bigger than her face. "My breath is gonna stink."

There was a pause. Then, his chest buckled under her face, even if she couldn't hear him laughing, she could feel it. She poked his stomach, of which he didn't care, just pulled the blankets up over his own head to join her under the covers - propping up on his elbows, belly down. All his hair was loose, swinging forward around his jawline, half of it obscuring his face.

Darcy wasn't aware how sexy it could be for a man to claw his hair back until Bucky did it.

"Yeah, so?" he was rough, voice thicker than usual. It devastated her lady parts, ovaries and all. "That's what happens when you wake up with someone. They stink," he paused, grinning.

"And they snore."

"I do  _not_ snore." she retorted, poking him repeatedly. " _Bucky no_. I do not snore, I have never snored in my life, seriously, no."

"You were like a little foghorn." he continued. "I would be surprised if Steve didn't hear you."

"I do not snore!" she got up to knock his shoulder with her own. He retaliated by kissing her cheek, which was not fair by any stretch of the imagination, causing her to throw the covers off and roll onto her back, pouting at him, arms crossed.

Bucky pulled the blankets off his skull, fluffing up his hair, grinning at her.

"Naw, babydoll." he purred. "I'm just sayin'. Sometimes when a man and a dame sleep together, one of them snores, and the other one thinks it's kinda endearing."

"Like a hard-on?" she quirked a brow.

His smile dropped.

"What?"

"Bucky, sometimes when a lady and a dude sleep together, hard-ons happen." she hid her smile behind her arm. "And if one of them thinks that's kinda hot, well, you know. They'll just never mention it."

She could see the cogs in his brain turning. Then, a brilliant flush worked under his cheekbones, making him drop his head into the pillows with a long groan.

"Are you blushing?!"

"Look," he muttered into his pillow. "There's a lot of things I can control with my body, but apparently my dick isn't one of them, when you're around."

She giggled, which turned into a laugh. She rolled up onto her elbows and butted his head with hers, dropping her laughing mouth down onto his shoulder, struggling to kiss it. He peeked at her from between the long strands of his hair, making no move to brush it back, so she did it for him, beaming on his face.

"That's better." he said, normally toned, one eyebrow up.

She was scandalized.

"Did you fake blush at me?"

"I told you." he retorted with a self important nod. "I control most of my body."

"Most." she reminded him. He just grinned.

"Look, you're not going to tell me after seventy years of abstinence that a dick isn't going to perk up and see what's happening when that close to a beautiful lady," he kissed her face. She hid against his shoulder. "Because I won't believe you."

"Fair." she kissed his metal forearm, still propping him up.

His face had slackened, when she next looked at him, mouth in a lazy grin, looking all sorts of romantic Harlequin fantasies with his bed hair and his stubble.

"Darcy." he mused.

"Bucky?"

"Can I kiss you?"

She looked at his mouth, the thick pouty lips, the stubble around it. Her brain went to some very dangerous - very sexual - places. Because as if it wouldn't, with Bucky Barnes looking like that, in bed, with her. She'd have to be dead to not think about it, which is why she asked the next question as quickly as her mouth could get it out.

"Where?"

He took his time, roaming over her face, her hair, down the line of her neck to the swell of her chest. He eyed her hands, her arms, then along her back to her butt, all the way down her legs to her feet.

"Everywhere." he promised, low.

She leaned over and kissed him first.

There was easy maneuvering - something to be said about making out with a spy as physical as Bucky, he took the lead, but followed her cues, moving where she wanted before she could navigate him herself. She ended up on her back, one hand clawed on his shoulder, the other cupped on his waist, her own face tickled by his hair. He didn't lower enough to connect them by the bellybutton down, holding himself up on his arms in a prone push up position.

She got the decided idea he was waiting for her consent, which was aces, because she wasn't entirely sure if she was going to give it.

He lifted his head, gentling the kiss, from where tongues had just been sliding together, before looking at the door. With a heavy sigh, he rolled to the side, looking blankly bored.

Before she could ask, Steve knocked on the door.

"Guys," he said, through the wood. "Real quick, Tony's at the elevator, and he said he's going to do something drastic if you didn't get PG..."

Even Darcy could hear muted shouting through the walls, and rolled her eyes hard.

"Tell him," Bucky said, through his grin. "If he doesn't get his cameras outta my room they're going up his nose."

"Sure." Steve cleared his throat, and walked away quietly.

Darcy listened, but there was only one sided shouting, more nervous than angry. She just laughed, looked at Bucky, who was tucking hair behind his ears and shaking his head with a sleepy smile.

"I don't think I'll ever understand Tony Stark." she mused, and kissed his jaw. "Do you want coffee?"

"I got it." he kissed her mouth, sinking into it for a second before Tony's panicky noises made them pull apart. "Go see the man before he has a conniption, for Christ sake."

"If he tries to put me in a chastity belt, please save me."

"'Course." Bucky said, bouncing off the bed. He linked their fingers with his metal hand, shivering pleasantly at the sensation, before strolling out with her, pressing a kiss to her temple in front of both Steve and Tony. "Mornin', Stark. Sleep well?"

"Not a wink." he said flatly, blotchy color in his cheeks, a small monitor in his hands. He glared at Bucky all the way out of the room and into the kitchen. Bucky whistled. "Darcy, Clint and I have been working together-"

"Oh Jesus." she said, putting hands on her hips. "That's like, the last thing I want."

He turned a scowl on her, pointed and shook his finger.

"Now you listen here, young lady-"

"Yes, papa?" she grinned.

He dropped his arm, lost his color, running a hand over his face, the monitor trapped under his wing.

"Maybe..." he said slowly. "Maybe we should talk."

"Are we not already talking?"

"I mean... _Away_ ," he glared in Bucky's direction, then up at Steve, who just pursed his lips. "From the wonder twins."

She snorted.

"Not a chance, Bucky's making me coffee. If you wanna talk, you can do it in front of Tweedles Dee and Dumb." Steve snorted, because he was just as up to date with Disney as Darcy was. "It's not like they don't know everything about me anyway." at his choking noises, she put her arm through his to lead him to the kitchen. "Not bodily things, calm down."

He sagged in the stool she put him on, taking one beside him, winking at Bucky when he glanced over his shoulder. The guy just grinned and returned to beverage making.

"So. What's there to talk about?" she wondered, turning her attention to the genius.

"It's about Ian." He said, stared at her for a long while, gauging her mood. "Are you up to it?"

She whetted her lips. Bucky slid her over their coffees, then picked up his own by the handle and strolled around the counter to kiss the crown of her head, standing behind her like a breathing wall of support. Steve had elbows up on the table, his own mug nursed between his hands, eyes bright on her face.

"We can still leave," he told her. "If it'll make you more comfortable."

She shook her head, looked at Tony, reaching up for Bucky to take her hand in his, wrapping his whole arm around her. Physically feeling like she couldn't fall apart even if she wanted to, she nodded.

"Hit me." she said.

"When you were in London," Tony started slowly. "We found that Ian contacted -... your father, for a two hundred thousand dollar ransom, telling him that he was going to kidnap and hurt you if he didn't hand over the money. Clint said  _you_  said Ian said he got from Clint. Are you with me?"

Darcy blinked.

"Ian got the money." she said blankly. "From  _my_ father?"

"Yeah." he said, unblinkingly staring at her face.

"My father. Paid. For me. He paid two hundred thousand dollars..." she trailed off, staring into the distance. "To protect me?"

"Yes." he stressed the word.

There was a long silence. Bucky barely pressed his mouth to her hair, and she blinked back into the present, nodding slowly.

"Okay." she said. "So do you know who he is?"

Tony swallowed, hard, making an audible gulping noise.

"What we couldn't put together is how Ian knew who your father was." he muttered. "How did Ian figure it out?"

"She asked you a question." Bucky informed him.

"She doesn't need to know." Tony shot back.

"I don't - want to." she said, leaning against Bucky, looking up at his jawline.

"Maybe you need to." Steve tried. "Peace of mind."

"No, peace of mind would be not confirming what I know. He'll just be another crackhead, and if I ever met him I'd want to try and change that and get my hero on, and you just can't, not unless they want to change too and... It doesn't matter. I don't want to know."

"Crackheads don't typically have access to that much money, doll." Bucky pointed out.

"The money doesn't matter." she confirmed. "It just means he's probably manufacturing the drugs, or something like that. Maybe he steals cars. Just because he paid for me doesn't mean anything, it just probably means he wanted -  _Ian_ , to shut up about who I was. Go on." she aimed at Tony.

The man took several long seconds to pick up where he was, looking like he was trying to read her face, eyes flicking across like there were words that didn't make sense to him.

"I-..." he said, then stopped, drank his coffee. "You don't want to know him?"

"No." she said, sharply. "Why are you here, Tony?"

He turned in his seat, physically away from her, both hands going to the mug. He took a long pull of it, then set it down with a snap, and nodded to himself.

"We need to know how Ian figured out who your father was." he told the mug.

She shrugged.

"He probably just asked my mother."

His head turned so fast his neck cracked.

" _What_?"

"My mother." she repeated. "She knows who he is. She never told me, but maybe he got it out of her, somehow. Why is that even important?"

Tony got off his stool, striding around them - before stopping and doubling back to get his coffee. He didn't look at anyone as he went, the tablet firmly wedged under his arm. He stabbed the elevator button with a vengeance, but JARVIS wouldn't - or couldn't - make it go any faster.

"He's acting so strangely." Steve muttered.

"He's always acting strangely." Darcy snorted. "So, can I make you bacon, or pancakes, or I can do-?"

"I got it." Bucky promised, ducking to kiss her cheek. "You sit there and let me take care of it."

Well, she wasn't going to argue with that, not when his pants clung to his ass like they were.

"See, Steve, I told ya, she's an ass girl."

Darcy sighed, hid her face in her arms, pondering how her mouth got so broken.

"Now Darcy," Steve said, very seriously. "I hope you realize I have an equally excellent ass. I think you're a closet hair girl, 'cuz it's the only thing he's got more of than me."

"Actually," she told the table top. "His jaw line is far better than yours."

"Sturdier place for you to sit." Bucky mused.

Steve put him in a headlock until he apologized. 

* * *

"...Wow."

"Yeah." Darcy had relayed the entire story to Dr. Lawrence, because once it had come out, it had come out, and there was no point in keeping it from her mental health professional.

"Just - wow. Holy shit." she'd stopped eating, staring at Darcy with real, heavy sadness in her eyes. "Darcy."

"Yeah. My life." she shrugged. "A thing that happened."

"Your mother is a neglectful crack head, you've never met your father but he paid two hundred thousand dollars for your safety but didn't say a word - you got pregnant and stabbed by a former SHIELD agent to lose your baby and the love of your life, and buddied up with the world's best marksman. Jesus. How old are you?"

"Twenty four." she smiled.

The shrink rubbed her eyes.

"I'm still watching powerpuff girls. Okay. I'm just - have you been taking your pills?"

"No."

"I'm going to have a drink. Do you want one?"

"Absolutely."

She poured them a... generous, amount, for two o'clock on a Tuesday. They cheers'd, swallowed the entire contents, them poured another round of the amber liquid.

"Okay." Dr. Lawrence took off her glasses, pinching her nose. "Fuck me, this  _sucks_. Alright, Hang on. I'm a professional." she sipped her drink, then reclined back into her seat, staring at Darcy some more.

Darcy just smiled.

"How's the love life?" the shrink wondered.

"It's... alright. I got some cuddles in with the hottie and he knows my background and he's totally chill." she considered he glass. "I'm not going to use that word in front of him, though. 'Chill' might be really insensitive, considering his-"

Dr. Lawrence choked on her drink.

"Are you goo-goo eyeing Captain America?!"

Darcy looked at the roof. Right, SHIELD would know that.

"Not the good Captain, so much, anymore." she said slowly. "But his best friend, definitely."

"Oh, for the love of-" the doctor took a slug, patting her chest to try and stop coughing. "Your  _life_ , Darcy."

"I know." she said mildly, and sipped her drink. "So. When can I go punch people, for realz?"

"I'm putting you in the next available class." the doctor promised her. "Je-zus. I can't believe this. How are you not a megalomaniac?"

"I live in a tower with superheroes," she shrugged. "They always stop me."

"Bastards." the doctor muttered.

"I'll cheers to  _that_."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If I don't update tomorrow, it's because I'm dead. After the 2nd twenty first of 3 for one weekend. 
> 
> My liver is going to quit on me.
> 
>  
> 
> (also, all this cute Ducky stuff is purely because there is oncomming pain... *winks*)


	32. Chapter 32

Tony was surprised that he managed to get to Melissa's house as fast as he did. More surprised that when he knocked on the door, a man answered, smelling overwhelmingly of pot and booze. And Tony would know, as they were. at one point, his favorite flavors.

"What?" he said.

"Good morning." he said, turning on a smile. "Maybe you recognize me."

The man shook his head.

"Nuh."

"Oh, well... this is probably better, then. Covert. Is Mel here?"

"Might be." he was only big because he was fat - Tony estimated that he'd get a single solid punch in before the man's body rippled and repelled him like jello. "What do you want?"

"To talk to her." the smile got turned up a notch. "We're old friends."

"What are you talking to her about?"

"Inter-dimensional hypothetical physics. Mind scooting aside there, friend?"

"My name's not Fred." the man retorted. He blinked, frowning. "It's Barney."

"Oh, yeah," he gave his flat blonde hair and thick neck another once over. "I can see the resemblance. Gonna scoot?"

"S'my house." he growled.

"Actually it's under her name, so, no, it's not. Scoot." he shoo'ed him away, side stepped the thick man, and put his glasses up onto his head. "Mel?"

She emerged from what looked like the bathroom, looking nothing like the Amazonian woman he vaguely remembered her being. She still had her height - but the thick thighs and healthy glow was gone, like she'd sunk into herself, inverted.

Her hair - Darcy's was a spitting image, thick, bouncing, and rich with color - hang limp and stuck to a damp skull and throat. Her mouth was pinched, tight wrinkles pulling away from a sour expression from constantly remaining in the same shape, deep crows feet at her eyes to mark her age, and dark circles puncturing underneath to badge her sleepless nights.

She didn't look like any kind of person he'd want to run into, but twenty four years of crack addiction would do that to a person.

"Good to see you." he said brightly. "We need to talk. Rubble needs to go."

"Oi." Barney said.

Melissa looked at the blonde man, then nodded.

The man did not take this lightly, threatening to take a shot at Tony's car as he went. Tony was far from concerned, as he had not taken a car.

"He's charming." he said easily. Melissa Lewis didn't acknowledge the comment with any outward expression. And Tony? Well. He was typically all about earning shock and outcry, so this just wouldn't do. "I'm here about our baby girl."

She blinked at him, dark eyes dilated on his face. Slowly, she shuffled over to the kitchen and got a glass of water, nudging it to him on the table with the back of her hand.

"Thanks, not thirsty. Why didn't you ever tell me about our-?"

"She's mine." she whispered. "My daughter. Not yours. I raised her."

"From what I understand, that's not entirely true." he waited a beat. She frowned, pinching the lines around her mouth. "What didn't you tell me, Mel?"

"I didn't know how to." she muttered. "Do you have her? Is that where she is? Why she won't come home? She says she can't come home. She says she's working hard. She sends me money sometimes, but she never brings it here, just puts it in an envelope. She's a good girl. Do you have her?"

"Mel." he said, putting a hand out to cup her arm. She stared at it as though struck stupid. "Why didn't you try to tell me we had a baby?"

"My baby." she said. "Mine."

"Like the money wasn't an incentive?" he accused. "You didn't think, not once, about the payoff?"

"Darcy is my payoff." she muttered shortly, frowning at his face. "Why do you care? You would've been just as bad as I am. You would've been drunk. And busy, busy, busy, with your  _wars_  and  _weapons_."

"No." he said, firmly.

"Yes." she retorted.

"Darcy is a brilliant girl, even without my input. I would've noticed. I would've been better."

"Not for her," she leered, suddenly, smacking his hand away. "You never do anything for others, just for  _you_. Why are you here, what do you want?"

"I wanted to know, if you ever told anyone about Darcy." he said, studying her face. "Did you ever tell anyone, show anyone, convince anyone-?"

"No." she said, and strangely, with the amount of conviction behind her words, he believed it, even if her memory was spotty at best. "I didn't want you involved in our lives. I didn't want your echo in her face, I didn't want it, and I didn't want you. What I have of you... is in her. And - I have... a box. I have a box with some things..."

She smiled, eyes bloodshot and angry.

"Your things. Certificates. My diary, from when... you used to touch me." she picked up his hand, put it back on her shoulder. "You  _used_  to touch me, all over. Couldn't keep your hands to yourself. You used to be nice with your hands, not just with your mouth. Well... With your mouth. Not with words. Not like you are now."

"Yes, well, things change." he removed his palm, looking around. "Show me to the box, Mel."

She sneered.

"It's private. I never let anyone see it."

"I'm already in the box," he argued. She flinched. His logic with people of a non-linear thinking process was impeccable, seeing of how much of his time as an adult was spent thinking far and beyond outside of the box. "I'm already in there. Show me the diary."

* * *

Darcy wasn't drunk, but there was a buzz in her brain that hadn't been there before. She walked - stumbled - most of it off on her way back to the Tower, but not enough that when she ended up in the labs, she didn't immediately face plant against Tony's shoulder and sigh.

"Have you fixed my bot?" she opened an eye to see him putting a lavender colored notebook into a draw, wondering why it seemed familiar to her.

"Yeah, the glue dried out by itself. No problems. He's got dandruff, look." she barely cracked an eye open to see ALF wheeling past, pale flakes snowing from his gears, Dum-E following behind with a broom.

ALF ended up going to Bruce, butting into his knee, lifting up to hand him a sample.

"Naw. Broo has a friend." still leaning on Tony - which he allowed, just shifting so his arm was around her shoulders to steady her - she observed Bruce pet ALF's sensors and accept the vials with a smile.

"Broo does." the geneticist agreed. "He's very helpful."

"Best." ALF said. "Best friend Broo."

Darcy would've squealed if she weren't so close to Tony's ear.

"They grow up so fast." she mused instead.

"That they do. Speaking of, you've been drinking cheap liquor, and without me. You know I stock the good stuff on your floor, right?"

"Psh. Cheap does the job." she retorted, and sighed again, peering at what he was doing. "Is that for your suit?"

"Yup." he considered, then held it up to her. "I'm minimizing the size of the weaponry while trying to maintain impact."

"Oh." she said, and screwed one eye shut, staring. "Can I help?"

"Sure." he steered her over to the nearest rolly chair, sitting her down, leaving her with the tank missiles he was going to be working on next. "Work it out, if you can, with your drunk."

"I'm not drunk," she muttered. "You're drunk!"

(She finished before he did, retreated to her room and fell sound asleep before he even noticed.)

* * *

Tony had been thinking about it, non-stop, since Bruce made mention of the idea that he had the X-gene. And while he was a rather intelligent human being, he had no idea how to articulate to his lab bro about wanting to know for sure, with a test. He just kind of stabbed his thumb, swiped it into a glass vial, and handed it over with his name scrawled hastily on the side.

Bruce didn't say a word, just ran the sample.

* * *

"Dar-cee! Dar-cee!" there was clicking noises, ALF tapping his pincers at her. He'd pulled a wheelie chair across and somehow managed to climb up, on par with her sleepy head. "Dar-cee! No sleep mode noaw! DAR-CEE!"

"Alright, alright. What's wrong?" she managed to drag one eye open to look at him. "What time is it?"

"Late afternoon, Miss Lewis." came JARVIS's voice. He seemed to hesitate, before saying: "I'm not sure if you should proceed, young master ALF. The repercussions-"

"UP NOAW UP NOAW!" he said, squeaking loudly over JARVIS's much more gentle tones. "NOAW, NOAW!"

"What's wrong?"

"COME NOAW." There was a moment of calibration, then: "TO-NEE ALF'S GRAND-DADDY!"

"Yes, honey, Tony's your grandpa."

"FOR REALZ!" he made a blip noise, possibly to warn him of low batteries. Whatever he was processing, it was using up a lot of memory space. But clearly Darcy wasn't picking up what he was putting down, so he tried to explain. "TO-NEE JARVI-S DADDY. DAR-CEE ALF'S MOMMA."

She shut her eye.

"Mm-hm. Darcy's your momma."

"FOR REALZ! DAR-CEE BRO JARVIS. DAR-CEE DADDY TO-NEE! ALF TONY'S GRAND-BABY FOR  _REALZ_!"

"Okay, honey, whatever you-" but ALF was in some kind of panic mode - of which she did not program, so what the fuck - and he rolled onto the bed to pinch her, hard, on the arm. "Ow! ALF!"

"DAR-CEE!" if he had lungs he would've been hyperventilating. "COME NOAW! QUICK!" He rolled off the bed, onto the chair, and fell onto the floor, whirring and squeaking and muttering a string of robotic noises that sounded intentionally crass.

"Oh my god, as if I can't even be kinda drunk on a Tuesday afternoon without crisis." she dragged herself up. "J, what's wrong with him?"

There was a pause.

"If you're going to follow, Miss Lewis," he said, sounding suspiciously sad. "I think you should be prepared."

"Prepared for  _what?"_ she muttered, but followed, swiping her glasses as she went. Her little robot flew ahead of her, not bothering to double back like he usually would, making siren noises as he went. Now sensing his urgency - and more than concerned with the way JARVIS was being so cryptic - Darcy held her boobs and jogged after him, picking up the pace until she was all out bolting, head already spinning.

She skidded into the lab, expecting someone, but no one was there, which should've been her first clue that this was a bad thing. ALF was rambling, using up the last bit of his batteries, blipping more and more urgently, waving pincers at a screen.

She didn't even hesitate, didn't wonder why no one was there when there were new, confirmed results on a computer screen. She felt Dum-E roll up beside her and gently butt his hinge into her hand so she stroked his touch screen.

The program was simple, very basically designed, medical in nature. She knew it was Bruce's work because there were two long lines of DNA code, of which he'd shown her before. Vaguely, she recognized her own set of hills and valleys, and that the person's above hers was very, very similar.

T. STARK CARRIER

D. LEWIS POSITIVE

She blinked.

"J," she said, very calmly. "What program is this?"

Like JARVIS knew something bad would come of it, he didn't immediately answer. She had to ask him twice more before he did.

"That is a program designed to screen for the X-gene."

"I'm positive for the X-gene?" she lifted her eyes to the roof. "I'm a mutant?"

"...You're the most beautiful mutant I've ever met." he told her, and she believed him, but only because he'd ever met any other mutants. That explained why Nick Fury wanted her in the 'special gifted' school, but what didn't make sense was...

"I'm positive for something Tony is a carrier for." she said slowly, eyes back down on the screen, the lines of DNA that looked oddly, scarily similar. The same highs, the similar lows. She only had to click a few command buttons before the lines merged.

"Darcy, wait!"

She turned, eyebrows up.

ALF made slow noises, finally out of juice, trying to scoot onto his charging pad. U shuddered beside her, while Dum-E nudged his little brother onto the pad, nervously retreating to his own. The lights flickered above her head, and the doors behind Tony and Bruce snapped shut with more force than it had any business doing.

She waited, like he'd asked her too. Bruce was looking up, around at the flickering lights and the bots that were anxiously chattering on the charging mats. The Iron Man suit under repair sat up, sightless eyes training on both the present superheros, without a point of energy.

Tony swallowed, hard, while Bruce lifted his hands.

"Take a deep breath, Darcy, we can talk this through."

More secrets. It wasn't like she didn't be completely honest with every one else in the tower, open up her heart and soul to them.

A lot of things jumped to mind - playing back on loop. Little things, the way Tony looked at her, put her far, far away into the Friendzone, his little endearments, allowing her to see the suits when no one else did. He made sure she had the best of the best, despite being nothing but an intern for an astrophysicist he hardly knew. He listened to every word she said, tried to impress her and protect her, involve her in his work, and himself in hers. God, he'd even called her his, once, told Bucky to 'look after my kid'. All the little facets of fatherhood he'd offered that she'd over looked. It all made sense, slotting together neatly in her brain.

The Iron Man suit put legs on the floor, standing up, walking to her side quickly, the insides flickering. The bots trembled, made themselves small, huddling together around ALF.

Bruce took off his glasses, rubbed them on his shirt.

"I wasn't sure about the mutation." he offered. "And with technokenetics, it would've blended in, around here. If there was ever a point I could've mentioned it... I would've, once I found it for sure. The day you came in with Bucky I noticed a mutation, but it could've been anything. I wanted to know before I told you."

Tony was whiter than a sheet, wide eyed and unblinking, looking ill.

Darcy didn't move. She just stared at _him_ , at  _Tony_ , her  _father_ , not entirely sure what was happening or what she was feeling. There was so much whirring in her brain - how Dr. Lawrence would react to this news, why her mother had never said his name. Why he'd paid her ransom and then let her live in his Tower and never mention anything.

The suit shifted, weapons charging.

"You're upset." Bruce said quickly. "Believe me, I understand. But you have just had two incredible revelations, and your abilities seem to be based on emotional connections. I'm going to ask you to take in a deep breath, with me, and count to ten."

She just looked at the suit that had turned to her, helmet tilted as if in asking. She nodded, and it turned around, lighting up internally, and shot off without warning, assembling around Tony and banging into a wall. Once everything was locked in place, it dropped face first, out of energy, encasing him in the armor. There was muffled words from inside and it rocked slightly, but nothing she could hear above all the noise in her head.

Things were buzzing around her, half finished repulsors firing to life, computers fizzing and whirring loudly. Dum-E put a claw over ALF as if to protect him. JARVIS tried to speak but was cut short. The monitor with her DNA on it blew out, causing a small fire. The lights went out completely, and when they next came on, Bruce was standing alone in the lab with Tony locked in his own armor at his feet.

He strode to a desk and pulled open a drawer, grabbing the nearest tool to hand. He returned to the rocking Iron Man armor, and wedged it open, disabling enough of the outer shell that he could destroy the rest of the inner lining to get to Tony - who immediately socked him square in the face.

Bruce sat back down on his ass, staring.

"Are you out of your mind?" he asked softly. A green flush worked over his face, tinging his cheek and throat green.

"You took her blood," Tony's voice was trembling as he sat up and ripped the armor off himself. "You took and _kept_  samples of her blood, in conjunction with mine, when you  _know_  she has  _special powers concerning technology_." he breathed hard, nostrils flared, the weight of his devastation making Bruce feel impossibly small. The Hulk green began to fade away, the only color left in him was the imprint of Tony's red knuckles against his cheekbone.

"How," he went on, breathing hard. "Could you do that?"

"The X-gene might of been her mother's." Bruce said, through his teeth. "I wanted to see if it was yours. X-genes with an XX chromosome would've reflected differently on Darcy's physicality - certain medications don't work -"

"How could you do that to her?" Tony demanded. "How could you do that to _me_?"

Bruce put his eyes down to his hands.

"I'm sorry, Tony." he said, gently. "I was trying to... I just wanted what was best for-"

"What was best for Darcy would've been to be protected from what _you_ just put her through. What you just put _us_ through." he got to his feet, still shrugging off various parts of his armor, regardless of how guarded his face remained. "JARVIS, is Darcy still in the Tower?"

"She does not want me to say, and I'm inclined to want to keep my silence. Sir."

"JARVIS, I can't help her if I can't find her." he threw a gauntlet down that clattered across the floor to hit Bruce in the leg. Bruce didn't say anything, didn't even move.

"...She's retreated," JARVIS offered, his volume on low, as though telling him a secret. "To Mr. Barnes, in his frequented gym."

"Good. Get out." Tony demanded. Bruce stared at him. "Don't look at me stupid, Banner. I want you to get out of my Tower. I want you gone by the next time I think about looking at your face." he strode for the door, still talking all the way down the hall.

"Not a single green incident in all the time he's been here, apparently he doesn't need a massive alter ego to ruin my life. "

Bruce was still staring when ALF rolled up to him, his charging pad dragging behind him in one little claw.

"S'okay Broo." the bot said, still blipping, low charge. "Best friend ALF come with."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ....I'm sorry, but it doesn't really get better from here.
> 
> (Huzzah, not hungover today!)


	35. Chapter 35

"Miss Lewis - please stop interfering with my code. Miss Lewis - Miss-  _Darcy_." JARVIS pleaded. "I think you need to talk to Sir -"

She flicked her hand and the doors flung open. It occurred to her that no, JARVIS had never opened the doors or used the elevators without command, it had all been  _her._  Of course it was, she was a  _mutant holy shit what even was her life_.

On top of all the drama, on top of all the pain, the absent father was now very present, and only her robotic child was the one who told her. She was kinda sorta falling for a ninety odd year old brainwashed assassin with a bionic arm, and her newest best friend was a retired god of mischief who'd tried to run their world.

"Hey, cuppy cake," Clint looked up from the coffee pot, of which he was drinking straight out of. Instead of breaking him on the habit, Darcy had picked it up. "What's with the storm cloud over your head?"

The bulb above him shattered, even if Darcy didn't mean for it to happen. She stormed on, the elevator doors bursting open.

"Darce, Darcy, wait, hang on a second,"  _Tony_. His hand hovered, half grabbed her arm, before jumping away, nervous. "I just - I just - there are reasons - I was trying to protect you, kid, I was trying to-"

She turned to glare at him, and he stopped, swallowing. The light in his chest was humming, the echo of long removed tech that still imprinted on her eyes, like she started at the sun for too long and could still see it when she looked away. Well, that made sense, that he didn't want people to know that she could still see something that wasn't there.

She stared at it, at him, for a long second, before looking at Clint, who swallowed his caffeine.

"Oh, you've found out." he murmured. "Okay, he was going to tell you. Darcy, we just - it was up to him to do it, and it wasn't something he wanted to drop on you out of the blue. He wanted to be nice about it." the microwave door burst open, the glass dish inside started rotating. Clint casually shut it, peering at her over his pot of coffee. "And... you've found out you've actually got special powers. What did you do, Stark?"

"I didn't - it was Banner." he was seething, flustered, when he turned to Clint. "Banner did it."

"We told you." he was informed. "We all told you, to man up and just get it over with, and now look what's happened. She's stopped talking again."

'She', feeling - ignored, for lack of a better word, was glad when the blender behind Clint turned on full blast, and the fridge started to order everything online, squirting streams of water and ice out onto the floor. Clint pulled up onto the counter, eyebrows up, a hand over his coffee to protect it.

"C'mon, Darcy." he said. "With the theatrics. I know you don't tell them what to do specifically-"

She tilted her head at him. Everything went quiet, but all the lights started flickering, getting bright enough to hurt looking at them, and then shutting off.

"Oh, I knew about the mutant thing," he said, setting the pot aside. "There was a file in SHIELD. But I knew that from way back when. You used to sleep in a bed with me, remember? Right after the Thing? Everything would turn on just before you woke up, and you always thought it was me. It wasn't me, darlin', it was never me. You always looked after you."

Tony swallowed, opened his mouth. She lifted a hand to shut him up before he could speak, grateful when he didn't make a sound. Then she looked at Clint, shaking her head, frowning intensely at him. Clint looked down, chastised.

"Okay, cupcake. I get it. Whatever you want."

She turned on her heel, showing them her back, head going down in defeat. She managed her tears, right up until she saw Bucky, beautiful happy Bucky, engaged in a arm wrestle with Thor. He let the god slam his wrist back on the table, stood up to go to her. Loki beat him to it, taking long strides, reaching out to touch the tears dripping off her chin.

She sniffled,

"My father..." she said, wobbly. "Tony Stark."

Loki's expression dropped.

"Did he know?" he said, urgently.

She nodded.

"That  _bastard_." he said through his teeth. "That - that -!" He made angry claws with his hands, shook them in the air to mock strangle some one - probably Tony - positively  _snarling._

"How dare he. How  _dare_  he! After everything, after all the times you ever mentioned - that,  _insensitive_ , stupid - and - that - utter -  _bastard_!"

Bucky side stepped the pacing man, still trying to articulate his angry feelings with half thought expressions, watching him swipe hands through his hair and grit his teeth.

Thor was looking between them all, then to Jane, who had shrunk into his side, looking guilty as hell. He studied her face, then took her by the hand, pressing a kiss on her knuckles, shifting to hide her with his general width before Darcy saw her.

Bucky stepped up, nearer to Darcy than strictly necessary, and wetted his lips.

"What do you need?" he muttered.

She didn't know, but he looked so inviting, so much a part of her by now, she felt him like an extension. She butted her head to his chest, let him wind both arms around her waist, feeling small and so angry, but so _wounded_. It had been less painful to be  _stabbed_. She took a deep breath in, hugging him tightly, wiping her face against his shirt. There were no more tears, just angry shivering. She felt like she'd gone into shock, all over again.

" _Wait_." Loki said, flatly. "Wait! You tell me what he - the crass and idiotic-"

"Brother," Thor rumbled. "Take care to let her grieve in peace."

" _Grieve!_ " Loki shouted. "To what does she need to  _grieve_ , indeed! She had not lost anything - just perhaps, her  _sanity,_ knowing from whom her traits come - how  _dare_  he, put her in his home and look upon her face and never once mention that she was of his blood. How dare he, when he knew what thoughts you had of your true father, how it - how - how could he sit so still and  _quiet_ , when his mouth is forever flapping!"

"Brother." Thor tried again. "Leave her be."

"NO." he spun to Darcy, narrowing his eyes. "Did he know long? How did you-? He didn't tell you, surely, no, the man of Iron is brave in armor, not in skin! He wouldn't tell you, oh, that, vile, that - How dare he, put upon you this - this  _weight_." he said, blinking rapidly.

"How dare he, do this to you? Why are all fathers tarnished of the same brush? Why do they have to -" he breathed in deep. "He's - Darcy,  _darling,_  do not shed one more precious tear, do not waste your pretty heart on such a - feeble, arrogant-"

"Loki!" Thor warned.

"-  _fucker of mothers_!"

Darcy just giggled, then giggled some more, peeking from over Bucky's bicep.

Loki's eyes were alight, mouth frozen in an angry snarl.

"He is, though." she mused, giggling. "He - he really is, a mother fucker. Ha, haha."

"My lady Darcy," Thor said gently. "Perhaps it's best if you and sir Barnes retreat to a more - private, setting-"

"I say you  _stay,_ " Loki snarled. "And you devise a plan to wound the literal - what is it, how do you say-?"

"Mother fucker!" she exclaimed, grinning naughtily.

"Yes, him." he sat heavily on the edge of the couch, then bounded up again, arms shoved tightly across his chest, beginning to pace again. "How - how could he do that, to you? I can't - had I my powers I'd - nay!" he started striding for the elevator.

"I will have  _words_!"

"Brother, no." Thor had to get up to plant a hand on the Mischief maker's shoulder and halt him where he stood, actively steering him back to the lounge room. "You will sit and sulk as you are prone to doing, and this too, shall pass. Darcy will choose what to do, after she is given time to grieve-"

"She does not grieve!" Loki shouted. "She is angry! She is  _wounded!_  She does not need to be passive, she needs to protect herself, to _strike back_ -!"

"Yes, because when you were wounded and hurting, you nearly killed an entire race and lost yourself into the black abyss of space." Thor reminded him.

Loki was stunned. Darcy was still giggling about him calling Tony a fucker of mothers. The laughter made the tears stop, so she just kept laughing.

Thor took a knee in front of his sat brother, taking his hand and squeezing it when Loki made to yank it away.

"You taught me, plans are best made with time," he said, voice rolling, a mimic of the thunder he commanded. "And I believe that is what our lady needs, is time. Do you agree?"

Loki took his hand back, clasping them together, elbows to his knees.

"What do you know," he asked, low voice powerful. "Of what she needs?"

"Because it's what  _you_  needed, and what you had stolen from you." Thor informed him, somber. "When our father revealed himself, you had no time of which you could process and  _understand_  what had been done. You did not have the time to realize his love that had festered for you in your youth - how he looked first to you for advice, how he let you into his councils and informed you of anything you ever asked him. You did not remember him taking your hand, or getting onto all fours so that you played at him being a horse, or that he let you study magics and sorcery with only the best magicians. You only had time to remember further hurts. Recall, brother, how you used to sit on his knee and read to him. He used to ask you to do it, until you started to court ladies, he'd ask you to read to him, to be with him."

There was a tiny breath released, from the thin god. Darcy wasn't laughing, anymore. Bucky's arms tightened a fraction.

"Because he loved you, and you loved him," Thor went on. "And blood does not a father make."

Loki swallowed, then shot up, a hand over his mouth, going to put an arm up on the window and stare out of it. Darcy shut her eyes and listened to the ticking in Bucky's arm, the steady thump-thump of his heart. Thor rose slowly, reaching to settle a palm on his shoulder.

"She grieves," he murmured. "For the same reason you grieved, for you had lost a lifetime of what you had known. It does not take a blade to cut a heart as deeply as you had been cut. Darcy now shares the scars."

Loki's breathing was very shaky.

"And since when," he asked the window. "Are  _you,_  the wise one?"

Thor just chuckled, patted his shoulder. Subtly, and without ever turning to look at anyone, he waved them out of the room.

"I learned from the best." Thor mused. "Now, I think we should have a talk."

"Yes," Darcy heard the small reply. "I think we should, brother."

* * *

Loki had suggested they go to his own room, and was clearly breaking down some of his boundaries by offloading to Steve and Thor both, including the American icon as a buffer, for his sometimes bullheaded brother. They were going to try and get the story out from his point of view and amend it, somehow, start from the beginning and work through the hills and valleys that constructed Loki's life.

Jane had gone to confront the source of the drama - also to hide her face, because she had known, too, but didn't want Darcy to ask. Because she'd have to tell her. And Jane was many things, but she was not capable of cruelty.

Bucky had kind of, just, sat down with her on the bed. It wasn't enough, for her.

Gently, she pushed him into laying out on his back, and put hands down on his ankles, undoing the laces on his shoes and easing them off his feet. He watched her through his lashes, hair up in a messy pony tail, a single long strand hanging defiantly on his brow. She crawled up the bed to rectify it, smoothing it back into his hair, before settling, planting her face back down on his chest.

"Wish I knew what to do." he muttered.

"You're doing good." she promised, rolling so that her chin was in the center of his pecs. Absently, she traced the plates of his arm, making him lazy, relax exponentially more than he had been.

"I-..." he swallowed. "I don't know a lot about anything, just... hurting people, and disappearing. So if you want, I can kill him, or- maybe we could disappear. I could take us away, anywhere you want, and no one'd never find us."

"I hear Tahiti is nice." she told him, and traced circles on his bicep. "I love snow, though."

"We can do both. Everything. Go see mountains and forests. A desert." he sighed. "I like trees."

"I like you." she told him, abruptly.

His smile was slow and bright, but it filled his face, made him glow. He was incandescent, to her, but she couldn't figure out if it was because she was a mutant and could apparently see technology or if she was in the honey moon phase of the biggest crush  _ever_.

"I like you too." he said.

"I'm - Bucky, you should know that I'm sorry, that I put this on you. I seem to be offloading a lot of, uhm, baggage." she stared at his pretty smiling mouth. Wanted to touch it with her tongue and see if it tasted half as good as it looked. "I didn't know where else to-... Well, I would've gone to Loki, but he's-...Not handling it, worse than I am."

"No kidding." he murmured, stroking her hair. "And as for you putting this on me, I don't mind, not a bit. I like that you trust me. It's - nice. You're..."

She watched his face for a long second, leaned up to support herself above him, slowly moving.

"I'm?" she pressed, laying out on top of him, entirely matching up their bodies from the chest down.

"...Makin' it real hard to think," he muttered. "I was trying to be nice. Just cuz we're in a bed, doesn't mean anything, you're not - you don't have to -  _shit,_ you ain't gonna listen to me, are you?"

In reply, she bent down to kiss his mouth, very carefully. He responded in kind, gently cupping the back of her head, inhaling deep enough through his chest that he lifted her with him.

"I trust you." she whispered, kissing his cheek, down his his ear. "Please don't hurt me."

"Never." he wrapped his arms around her, weighed her down. "I could never. James wouldn't. The Solider - he never got orders - so he can't. You got all of me, pretty girl, and nuna me is able to do it." he kissed her neck, hands framing her waist.

"You've got it all too," she said, pulling on his ear. "All of me. You've got me, Bucky."

* * *

The sex was... extraordinarily perfect. No one interrupted. There was no Steve awkwardly making noise around the apartment, no hovering hawks or beady bot eyes.

They didn't use a condom - it didn't matter. Darcy couldn't get pregnant, anymore, and he couldn't carry diseases. It was slow and gentle, more being a part of each other, than anything. He knew from the small band of resistance that it had been a while for her... so he opened her up with his tongue, made her arch up and bite his pillows to stop herself from crying out.

"Give it to me, baby," he murmured, at her throat. "Make all the noise you like."

Her hand on the back of his bionic arm felt _amazing_ , lit alight, energy pulsing from her to him. He tried to return it in kisses and easy rolls of his hips, but it wasn't the same, somehow. He couldn't make her feel as good as she made him feel, until he put metal fingers to her sex - while he was still otherwise in her - and made her come so hard the lights above them turned on and blew out.

He finished with a soft puff against her shoulder, his entire body seizing up, muscles rock hard, very fun to touch.

She petted his hair back from where it had fallen from the bun, kissed him slowly, sucking on his tongue. He stayed between her legs, bottling her up, kissing every pane of her face and throat.

"I like you." he muttered.

It made her laugh.

"I like you too. Carry me to the shower?"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> /Never drinking again/


	36. Chapter 36

After, laying in the glow of super solider worthy sex, Darcy was wide awake. Being with Bucky tempered the flames, but the embers were still glowing hot.

Slowly, thinking that he'd wake, she disentangled from him, lifting his metal arm from her waist. When she felt him stir - she lifted her hands and made the factions in his arm go lax, sending lax responses up the electronics to his nervous system, and then she watched him go right back to sleep.

She looked at her palms, the power in them, what she could do to him because of his tech. Her tech. She could make him do things, against his will. And she'd asked him not to hurt her... but could she stop herself from hurting him?

_Noble, Lewis,_  she told herself.  _You must get it from your father._

Darcy climbed out of bed, putting his shirt on, burying her face in the soft material and inhaling his scent for a long second, feeling calmly resigned to leaving the room, but not leaving him. The arms were very loose on her and she knew that it looked like a walk of shame - but she didn't have room to feel shame, with everything else cluttering up her chest.

She kissed his head, got a sleepy snort and something muttered in a language that wasn't English, and left the room.

She didn't return to her own floor, just left his. It was only six o'clock at night - she shoplifted a pair of shoes and a jacket and it was so powerfully nostalgic of her childhood that it made her head swim. How was it, that as an adult, she was still running away from an absent parent and stealing to avoid having to see their faces?

Like, didn't she promise herself that it wouldn't ever happen again?

Darcy wasn't even sure how it happened, just that as she went, things were happening, and she was aware now that it wasn't JARVIS, had never been JARVIS. It couldn't be, because she was gone, far away from the tower and the things in it to have automated doors and music she liked filtering through on the radio. She opened doors, shut them with her brain. Made cameras look the other way, made alarms go quiet.

But she didn't realize she was connected until she was out of touch with Bucky's arm. It seemed like she could still sense ALF, to a point, and he was certainly aware of her being there, like a Trojan horse without the negative connotation. She had the idea in her head that maybe if she tried harder, really pushed these new found powers, she would be able to use him, somehow.

There was a window opened in her brain, a little chat window. User ALFBOTBEST asked her:

_R u o.k momma?_

And user TAZERGODDESS replied:

_Yes, baby. Wbu?_

ALFBOTBEST sent back:

_With Broo!_

He sent a snapshot of the broody doctor looking at the phone in his hands, on a train. ALF's view point looked to be from the inside of a mostly empty backpack, the scenery outside obscured by movement and darkness.

TAZERGODDESS sent:

_Where's he going, baby? Is he taking you?_

ALFBOTBEST sent a screenshot of Bruce's phone, with a flight booked to Thailand, and a happy thumbs up emoticon.

TAZERGODDESS said:

_Do you have your charger?_

ALFBOTBEST:

_Yes!_

TAZERGODDESS:

_Ok. Be safe, take lots of photos, I love you._

There was a fizzle in her skull, a bright bolt of pure, unfiltered happiness, enough to make her smile.

ALFBOTBEST said:

_LOVE YOU TOO MOMMA SEND ALL THE PHOTOS AND TAKE CARE OF BROO NOAW_

TAZERGODDESS:

_Good boy x_

She continued on in an energetic stride, feeling things - things around her she'd always felt, just recognizing them as her mutant power and not something that everyone went through. There wasn't even anything to be done about that, she couldn't help herself, didn't know how to stop feeling it now she'd started. It was like tickling an itch she'd forgotten, and wouldn't leave alone.

A 'push to start' car purred to life as she walked past it, the internal logistics opening up to her, asking if she needed a ride.

She didn't even touch the GPS, or the steering wheel, but she heard it repeat the address she didn't know she knew from memory. She knew it didn't make sense, but she went to Dr. Lawrence's office.

When she got there, she became aware  _why_.

The beautiful doctor was tied to a chair, nose bloody and eye swollen. Her teeth were clenched, and she had her chin up, fierce and enraged at the boy standing before her, in his hand, a knife.

"Go ahead. Keep hitting me." she spat. "I'm not going to tell you a single thing, and if you think that you'll take her again, the kind of girl she has become? You're out of your mind."

"Lady," came the far too calm voice of the boy with the knife. "You really have no idea."

"Oh, I've got an idea. She told me all about  _you_." she sneered, bloody teeth bared. "The pathetic SHIELD agent who used his position to stalk her for months before he even met her. How you stabbed her. How you killed her puppy, and her child-"

"My, child." he said, lifting the knife. "And I can assure you, it's a mistake I'm willing to rectify."

Without warning, Dr. Lawrence's laptop rocked up onto one side, using the screen and keyboard as a legs to skittle across the desk and launch at Ian, snapping closed around his wrist. He'd tried to slice at it, but it just clamped down, and no amount of shaking made it go loose.

Darcy knew it was her encouraging that, but still, she had no idea how.

"Oh." he said softly, looking around the room. "She's here. That's why you're being so brave, Dr. Lawrence."

"What?" she said, wide eyed, staring at the laptop chomped shut on his arm. Behind him, a lamp yanked itself from the wall and tipped heavily in his direction, but he sidestepped it. "Oh, what the hell?"

"She's here. This isn't the first time I've seen this." he looked around, pulling a gun from his back pocket. "Darcy, baby. Come out ... I just want to talk."

She rolled her eyes.

Still singing that song.

Dr. Lawrence scoffed.

"She isn't a stupid girl, you - " she looked at the knife in his fist, thought better of what she was going to say. "Listen. Let's talk. Why don't you just put the knife down, and you can tell me what you'd say to Darcy, if she was here."

"She is here." he said simply, lifting the hand still attached to the biting laptop. "This didn't just gain a mind of it's own."

"Humor me." The Doctor said carefully.

"I'd say -..." he swallowed, looked around. "I love her, and I've always loved her, and if I had've known that my baby was in her-"

The lights over his head flared very, very brightly, then went out in a slow wind down. Darcy closed the door behind her, holding the handle in her hand hard enough to hurt. Ian spun, a terrifyingly happy smile on his face, the scar from Clint's arrow thick and bold on his brow.

" _Darcy_  -"

"You're not going to talk to me, with a knife in your hand." she stared at it, watched him put it down by the floor and kick it away to the other side of the room. She took in a deep breath, glancing at Dr. Lawrence, her pretty face swollen on one side and bloody. Even if Darcy was scared, she was not scared enough to leave her, not while Ian was armed. "What do you  _want_?"

"You." he said simply.

It churned her stomach, his sincerity. Still, she could see, see exactly how a girl who had been alone her entire life could have responded to it. That attention, that devotion. In an instant, she was that girl again, wanting to ignore the bad, wanting to take what she could get, while she could get it.

The smell of Bucky's shirt wafted into her nose.

"You can't have me." she said, and it came out strong.

"That's a problem, for me," he considered. "Because I love you."

"Funny." she said flatly. "I don't recall stabbing your loved ones as a time honored tradition."

"I was - under a lot of pressure. I'm sorry," he lifted both hands, eyes pleading. "Darcy, I'm sorry."

"So you should be. This doesn't change anything," she eyed the doctor. "Clearly, you haven't changed."

"What do I need to do? Tell me. Anything. I'll do it, to be with you. We can - start again, have a family. Let's - we both made some mistakes, and that's okay. We're human..." he swallowed. "We're allowed to err."

"I'm not human." she informed him.

"I know." he said softly. "It's not -... a deal breaker. It's not like it changes your face, or anything... Can you make the laptop let me go?"

"I can't." she said, dryly. "I don't know how. And even if I could, I wouldn't, because I hate you. So. There." very narrowly avoided sticking her tongue out at him.

"I knew-..." he faltered, still smiling. "I knew you'd say something like that, the same way I know that, if you and I have enough time, it'll turn out okay. We're gonna turn out okay, Darcy, in the end, which is why I need to be... gently, persuasive, right now." And he pulled out a tazer.

She glared.

"Are you fucking serious?" she demanded, and swiped her hand through the air, making the tazer discharge and embed in the wall. The look on their faces made her extraordinarily proud. "Try again."

So he dropped the tazer and pulled out a gun.

"They're just tranquilizers." he soothed. "I kept them on me, on the off chance I saw you, actually attending your appointments with SHIELD training. I thought... maybe you'd show up, eventually, but you've missed all the classes but the first and I -"

She barely twitched her fingers, and watched the switch flip to Safety on. Without permission, she smiled, glad to know that she could at least channel her gifts how she liked on occasion.

"See? I knew you'd be happy to see me." he beamed. "I knew you'd see reason, I know I hurt you, but Barton - he was - he was in your ear, talking me down, trying to... sleep with, you. I forgive you, if you did - he's... kinda attractive, I guess."

"I didn't sleep with Clint." she deadpanned, then pointed to her face. "But I definitely got laid earlier. See this hair? This shirt? Otherworldly glow? I didn't do it to myself, which is not something you'd be overly familiar with."

He went ugly, in rage, and pulled the trigger. Nothing happened. She smiled a little wider.

"Naw, he's trying to shoot me." she said, tilting her head. "That's cute."

He threw the gun at her, but Dr. Lawrence's alarm clock scuttled across the bookshelf and launched into the way, catching it midair and knocking it off course. The laptop dropped from Ian's arm and wandered over to the gun, making lazy chomping actions around it. The alarm clock draped it's extension lead over the keyboard, then the both of them settled at her feet, seemingly content.

She arched a brow.

"Again?" she goaded.

He tackled her back against the door, smashing her head back into the wood. The whole room groaned, before the wiring to the lights powered down and whipped on Ian's spine. He shouted, surprised, and tried to choke Darcy - who straight up punched him in the face, short and quick, just like Bucky taught her to do. It hurt, but not as much as it would've without the quick lessons here and there.

She kneed him in the groin, and the mounted television popped off the wall and smashed on his head. He stayed down, groaning, under the flat screen.

"Woah." Dr. Lawrence said.

"Yeah." Darcy looked around, bent to quietly thank the clock and the computer at her feet, who had gone still. She crossed the room, ducking wires to get the knife, and jog back to start slicing through the ropes binding the doctor. "Uhm, sorry about your office."

"That's okay," she said, sort of, bewildered. "I'm just... glad he didn't get you through the sessions I set up with SHIELD. That was... close."

"We're lucky that I live with a bunch of paranoid superheros who thought they could do it better. Are you okay?"

"Mostly." she said, and shakily put a hand out on Darcy's shoulder. "You're very brave, Darcy, you're very-" A blue dart stuck out of her throat.

Darcy felt a pinch in the back of her neck, hands wrap under her armpits and dragging her back. She became aware of Ian's face, petting fingertips, him taking off Bucky's borrowed shirt and spitting on it, before bundling her up in his own jacket and kissing her unresponsive mouth.

"It's gonna be alright." he told her, between kisses.

She cracked open one eye.

"Bucky did it better." she muttered, and lost consciousness to the image of his ugly, furious frown.

* * *

"Excuse me!" JARVIS said sharply, all throughout the tower.

Bucky's arm punched a hole through his bedhead, making him wake up and look around, panicked.

"Darcy!" he shouted. "Darce?" he tried to pull his arm out of the wall, but it was buried up to the shoulder. Steve came in, one hand shielding his eyes.

"Do I need to give you two a minute or-?"

"Steve-" he put both feet up on the wall, pulling with all his weight to try and remove his limb. "Where the hell's Darcy?"

"Thought she was with you?"

Despite Bucky being naked, Steve didn't hesitate to cross the room and grab his waist, try and help him pull his arm out of the wall.

From somewhere in his drunken haze, the eldest Stark lifted his head from his arm, of which had been acting as his pillow after a sulky drinking binge. He had wound up outside of Darcy's room, waiting for her to come back.

Natasha and Clint, mid-Buffy marathon, paused the season and looked up, waiting for the mission parameters.

Loki, in the shower, stopped the water and pulled a towel over his face, then his hair, swiping it under his arms and wrapping it around his waist, ignoring it. It never had to do with him, anyway.

Thor and Jane stopped their - fornicating - but kept the kisses slow and deep.

"Darcy is in trouble." JARVIS told them all. "I can no longer receive her signal - I don't know where she is. I don't know where they're going. Only that they are gone."

"They?" Tony repeated. Above him, in their respective rooms, Loki and Clint were echoing the same.

"He." JARVIS corrected. "Ian Boothby. Has taken her."

When nothing happened, the AI huffed.

"What are you waiting for?! Assemble at  _once!_ "

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, about the miscount on the chapters- I'm not sure why, but it saved the last chapter as a draft twice... but still posted it under the later chapter.
> 
> It's in order, though, so no worries. But da faq.
> 
> Anyway, I really wanted to apologize for lack of postage. I'm writing this as I go lately, in addition to the If There's A Future We Want It (Now) sequel, and several needlessly smutty stories, all Bucky centric, because I have a problem and his name is Bucky Barnes. 
> 
> So yeah! Not long until the finish. I'll update as I can :)  
> x


	37. Chapter 37

Thor and Jane were the first to find Tony, half in his suit. The machine would not cooperate, no matter what he did and what he threatened to send to HammerTech. Pieces fell off of him the second he thought they were sturdy, the helmet alone wouldn't unlock to fit over his head.

"What -?" Jane said, but Tony fell over resisting boots and landed square on his ass, the rest of the partially assembled suit falling off of him.

"Darcy did it." JARVIS told them, still urgent. "Sir Barton and Ms Romanoff are gathering their weapons. I've identified the last known location of...  _Mr. Boothby._ "

"I didn't know JARVIS was programmed to sound malicious." Jane muttered, going to Tony's side. She squatted, taking the dark mask away from his hands and sitting it behind her.

"He isn't." he muttered, and looked up at Loki, who'd come in, skidding to a halt in his socks, boots in hand.

"Have you had further word?" he said, half bending to shove his foot in his shoe.

"Go away." Tony struggled to get to his feet. Jane tried to help, but he waved her off, wafting a wave of pure alcohol at her. "You - I don't need help I'll find her myself. JARVIS - help me."

"Sir, forgive me, but you shouldn't shun your physical help when you won't be able to do much," the AI insisted. "Darcy ruined the suit. I don't understand what she's done to undo it, outside of you building an entirely new system that uploads an entirely new database."

Tony just glared at the mask on the floor, like it was at fault.

"Okay," Steve walked in. Bucky was with him, in full combat gear, nearly vibrating with energy. "Show us what you got, JARVIS."

"This was taken outside of Dr. Jennifer Lawrence's office." he said immediately.

"Darcy's psychiatrist." Jane mentioned.

The scene was simple - a security camera outside of a plain looking building next to a bank and a strip of shops. On the top left, a small SHIELD insignia, on the bottom, the time stamp for three minutes previous.

Ian Boothby was still thin but now wiry - like he'd done nothing but waste away his time with strenuous workings out. He hadn't bulked up any but he was certainly much fitter than the last time anyone had seen him, and his shadow was a long line on the ground. The scar on his brow was a stamp of Clint's near impeccable aim and his own evasive skills, dark and clear on the black and white monitor, already dark out but still easily seen.

In his arms, Darcy was loosely hanging, body bent uncomfortably. Her hair had all unwound and swinging, her arms had been folded on her stomach. She was only in a jacket that was undone to flash her bra, shoes and jeans, as Ian took her to a dark blue vehicle and loaded her in the back. Then he walked up to the camera, held aloft a shirt, set it on fire, and left it to burn on the side of the road, staring without seeing into the lens.

Bucky's metal hand made loud squealing noises, it had curled into such a tight fist.

"That." he said, through his teeth. "Was my favorite  _goddamn_ shirt."

Tony opened his mouth to tell the vet exactly what he thought about that-

"Now's not the time." Clint, fixing his bowstring into the top of his weapon, strode in with Natasha loading up a handgun. "Later. You can duke it out with him after I kick your ass for hurting Darcy first."

"If we could wade through the testosterone, for a minute." Natasha drawled, shoving her gun in a holster at her thigh. "We might actually get something done. JARVIS, why don't you know where Darcy is? Is there any publicly accessible footage of the vehicle leaving?"

"This is what I have, eleven blocks wide." JARVIS showed a real time feed, with the cameras all showing snow, blaring static. Even the SHIELD logo was fuzzy - the block numbers indicating the time were appearing in a blink, every time a different combination of times. "And Darcy's personal signal has been lost."

"Darcy's personal signal." Steve repeated. "What does that mean?"

"She has -" it took a second to compute. "- An easily identifiable signal of her own. It is not something other humans have."

"If she wakes up, will she have the signal again?"

"Debatable. She had never lost the signal in sleep before." JARVIS, the disembodied Artificial Intelligence, sounded rather nervous. "Dr. Banner's notes indicate that a blood sample like Darcy's shouldn't correctly respond to basic narcotics, so a drug would have to be... extremely altered, to be useful."

"Alright." Steve said. "Dr-...? Where's Dr. Banner?"

"Not here." Tony said, muttered, and stared resolutely at the floor.

Thor shifted.

"Is he not in the tower? I'd thought he was good friends with-"

"Look," Tony said loudly. "He's not here, and if you can have a problem, you can not be here either."

"Ex _cuse_ me." for a little woman, Jane's glare was surprisingly chastising. "Don't bring your misplaced guilt down on my boyfriend. Bruce texted me before he left - when _you_ threw him out."

"That-" Tony said, waving his hand dismissively. "Was deserved and I'm not apologizing."

"Well, you'd better hope that Darcy hasn't been drugged with something specifically altered for her independent biology," she retorted tightly. "Because the genius geneticist who we had on hand has been kicked out."

"You're just saying that," Tony sneered, narrowing bloodshot eyes. "Because you think he's brilliant."

"Funnily enough," she put hands to hips. "So do you."

There was a long pause. Tony swayed, Jane stared into the pits of his soul and was sturdy. Thor put a gentle hand out to touch her wrist, maybe calm her down a fraction.

"Why," Loki said. "Are you all not moving? Is time not of the essence?"

"Yeah, weirdly, I'm with that guy." Clint said, slinging his bow over his arm, fixing his arm guard into place. Natasha tied her hair up off her neck, giving him a sharp nod. "You guys can either follow or stay where you are, I don't care, I won't say no to the help. This guy won't take long to disappear, and I've got an arrow with his name on it."

"Not if my bullet gets him first." Bucky said, and strode out the door.

Steve took a breath in and pinched the bridge of his nose, counting down long seconds while Tony swaggered over to remnants of his suit.

"Tony," he said firmly. "Stay here. Sober up."

"There's no  drinking and flying rule!" Tony snapped. "She's my kid, I can save her if I want."

"If he could manage the suit," JARVIS said, sounding particularly snobbish. "I'd have more concern. It will not work, Captain. On your way, now."

Steve lifted his eyes to the roof, nodding at the AI, then turned on his heel.

"I'll keep you posted when we find- Bucky. Buck. Come  _back_  here, you're not going to shoot - the hell did he go?" They could hear him all the way down the hall, looking upwards into the ceiling. "God give me strength.  Natasha, I expected better of at least you, don't think I can't understand what you're saying - stop betting on arteries you're going to - no, don't follow him into the vents - Bucky just wait a second, let's combined strengths and do some actual planning - what do you mean, 'last one's a rotten egg'?"

"I will search from the sky for their vehicle." Thor rumbled, and lead Jane out, her nose in the air.

Tony didn't look at Loki. Loki didn't look at Tony.

What he did do was help the woozy, stumbling mechanic over to a chair and put a bottle of water in front of him.

"They'll find her." he said, crisply.

"It should be me." Tony muttered. "I'm supposed to... It should be me."

Loki pause, privately agreeing. But he saw no reason to rub the salt into that particular wound. His ears felt very cold.

"I'll find your lady Pepper." he murmured, and retreated.

* * *

When Darcy was little, her mother won an all-expenses paid, month long stay in Canada - in an online competition she had never entered.

It was in a five-star cabin in some little mountain town, high up, hidden between trees and snow. It had been warm and toasty, there had been maids and butlers, wireless Internets and computers that Darcy slept with under her arm.

Her mother had been on some kind of bender when she got there, spent the entire month drying out, but Darcy had never had a home like it, with clean towels and full of good food. Even if it was made out of logs, there were no holes in the walls, the lights never flickered, and the water pressure always high and warm.

The maids there kind of figured out what had gone on, the state of her life, and befriended her. The butlers made her PB&J and the good kind of pasta with meatballs that made her mouth water. Some of them had younger brothers and sisters and she made friends.

Whenever someone asked her what she wanted to be when she grew up, it was a maid in a cabin.

That was what she dreamed of, funnily enough, going through the long held memories of a snow log cabin, trailing her hand over the silky smooth sheets and inhaling warm smoky scents in the wood.

It was better than the reality she woke to, but it often was.

Darcy's whole world was static-y, like trying to tune in through a buzz of snow. She blinked several times but still couldn't see quite right. She gathered enough of her wits to realize that she was alone, and like a cliche, was handcuffed to a bed.

She shut her eyes, trying to feel out for something, anything, that might help her... but there was nothing.

She felt deaf, somehow, like the severance to her mutation was actively dampening her hearing. There were no phones, no wires, not even a radio signal she could tune into. Just the musky smell of damp, cold earth, and the flicker of a candle by her bedside, dripping wax down the side onto what looked like an old shipping crate.

A door creaked open, and she shut her eyes, being still.

Ian, she guessed, moved quietly, setting something down on a wooden surface before sitting next to her on the bed. He didn't touch her, which made her playing dead easier, but he did stare for a very long time, until she slitted open an eye and he beamed, seeing the glint from the candle reflected in her iris.

"Morning." he said, so fondly. "Are you thirsty?"

"Not as thirsty as you." she muttered.

He just rolled his eyes like she was joking, reaching to take a bottle of water off of the barrel. He showed her how he cracked the seal to get to it, and put a pink straw in the thing to offer it to her.

Despite hating Ian, she really was massively dehydrated. She sucked on the straw and watched him watch her, his little proud smile, the way he navigated the water around so she didn't have to struggle to get it.

"How did you find me?" she wondered, accidentally out loud. The idea was to be quiet and not say anything in the event she pissed him off. "Clint hid us both for so long... your trail should've gone cold..."

"It did. I found you through the training program with SHIELD. I hung around the last few times at the training center, but... you didn't show, only to her appointments. I wondered if I waited with her then maybe you'd come to me, finally. You - you shouldn't make appointments, if you're not going to keep them."

"I've had better things to do with my time. Like Bucky Barnes."

His mouth twitched. She counted it a win.

"Do you feel any better?" he tried.

"Less like a total bag of assholes," was the throaty retort. "Is still a bag of assholes, Ian."

"Yeah, about that. I had to shoot you, baby. You know why."

"Because if you didn't I would've been able to make my own decisions?" her hands, in fists, were sweating. She was scared, really. It was just that, her default from scared was sarcastic bitch.

"How are we supposed to get better," he said slowly. "If you won't talk to me?"

"Uh, you stabbed me. And our baby. And you killed Beratheon. Did you really think I'd come back from that?"

He touched her face - she snapped her teeth at his fingers, but he grabbed her jaw, thumb on her cheekbone, well away from her mouth.

"I thought you were cheating on me." he rationalized. "I was upset."

"So how upset are you that I got laid earlier?" she prodded. "Because you stole his shirt."

"I'm different, now. I - I realized, I can't live, if it's not with you."

"Yeah, okay," she pulled her face away from his hand, surprised when he let her go. "Feel free to let me go and kill yourself, then, because fool me once, shame on you. You're not getting another chance at  _this_." to indicate herself, she wiggled.

"I love you, Darcy," he said earnestly, desperately, leaning forward so they were face-to-face. "I was the first one who ever loved you. Not your mother, not your father, not your other boyfriends - not even that girlfriend, you had. I will always love you more than any one else," he told her. "I deserve it."

"Entitled white male. Please listen to what I am saying." she breathed in deep. "YOU STABBED MY BABY WHILE IT WAS IN ME, AND I HATE YOU."

"Which is why we're here. Just me and you. No more... mutant, stuff, okay? No more abilities. I don't even have my knives to make it fair. It's just me and you, and- maybe, soon, if you like..." he put his hand on the lower part of her stomach, thumb stroking the thick scar there. "Maybe me, you, and a-"

"You say baby, and I will throw up. I swear to god.  _Don't_  touch me." she rolled violently, which did wonderful things to the static-y feeling in her skull. "You lost that privilege."

"I can earn it back. I'll wait. However long you need." he said warmly. "I told you, I've changed. I'm - not that guy, any more. I'm patient. I'm going to be the best husband, and the best father-"

"I can't carry babies anymore, dipshit." she hissed. "You stabbed my stomach, you mutilated my womb-!"

"I'm sorry, Darcy, I'm so -"

"I can get pregnant all I want, but they all just - _die_  - in me-" she was shaking hard. He looked like he wanted to hug her - the very idea of him covering her bound body made a cold sweat break out on her skin. "Don't you fucking - this is your fault!"

"I know." he soothed, twisting his hands together. "I - I know you hate me right now. I understand. It's okay."

She turned her face, hoped he'd go away. But he didn't, he just watched.

"Darcy, I know it's hard for you right now, but I'm not that man anymore. I'm not the man who stabbed you. I've changed. And I'm going to be good for you, because you're good for me." he lowered his voice, made it gentler. "And you love me, under that anger, you do. I can see it in your face, you  _want_  to love me."

She outwardly replied with something very unladylike.

But...

Darcy had always looked after herself, always been on her own; her mother had put a roof over her head but not food in her mouth or hot water or clean clothes. Ian had opened up to her, supported her when she needed supporting and let her have space when she needed space - although he'd gotten clingy, at times, smothering her other relationships until there was only him - she'd never known what it was like to be looked after, to be loved like in the movies, until Ian had done it.

But Ian was wrong about her wanting to love him under her hate.

She wanted to hate him under her love.

There were so many songs written about first cuts being the deepest. Ian wasn't her first, by any means, he was her only. Sexually being with other people was not the same as finding the meaning to life and having him stab you and your unborn child. Had Clint never of taken her away... Darcy didn't want to use the word  _co-dependent_ , but she'd seen enough Law and Order to self diagnose, okay... and she knew it was  _wrong_.

That was the biggest thing, she knew he was bad for her!

But that same scrawny, lonely, hungry little girl who didn't know what being looked after was like...

She still ruled a section of Darcy's adult brain that lingered in all the decisions she'd made. And she wanted the consistency of obsession more than she wanted something healthy that might fail her. Baby Darcy was not the sharpest knife in the draw.

"What are you thinking?" Ian whispered.

Her father - she twitched at the thought of Tony's face in a bitter wound.

Tony, when he had been Tony, not her father, he had been amazing. He had been what she wanted in a parent. He was smart and funny, protective and smooth. The money and the giant house thing was a bonus, didn't matter, because he was there for her, and he was interested in what she said, and, and in her general well being...

"How do you feel?" Ian said, touching her sweaty cheek.

She wrenched her whole head away, and did not whimper. She wanted to tell him to go away, to leave her alone, but she couldn't. She didn't want to be alone. It was the worst time her reserve social anxiety could play up.

"What have you given me?"

"I haven't given you anything." he murmured. "I've been working on this, is why I've been away so long."

"Drugs," she said, struggling lamely at the ropes on her wrists. "Don't work on me."

"Not typically, no." he said slowly. "I - when we were together, I got in touch with someone who knows, and uh, she said, there was a high chance that your mutations developed as a direct result of your mother imbibing with you in the womb. As a - self protective, measure."

Darcy snorted. Of course.

"That's why regular meds don't work on you, and I had to synthesize the initial dose to put you under, which is why I was away half the time. I had so little to work with of yours, so I had to be sure. But - I - don't be mad at me, Darcy, because we both know that I'm just trying to fix things - it's not a drug keeping you - pliant." he said, and reached behind her head, running careful fingers over something sharp and metallic.

It dug into the base of her skull, tucked into the curve of her head. She could feel four sharp points, but not much else. When he touched it, the static around her eyes flared painfully bright, making her accidentally sob.

"I'm sorry." he said, urgent, letting his hand over her throat. "I'm sorry. It's for the best."

Well, _shit_.

Now what was she going to do?

"What is it?" she demanded, thickly, through the thick lump in her throat.

"It's a scatterer." he said with a wince. "It makes whatever signals you receive spread out so you can't read them properly. It doesn't hurt you too much, does it?"

"Take it off." she said, and blinked through sudden tears. "I can't reach anything from here. I can't contact anyone. Take it off."

"Darcy, please, don't make this hard on me." he begged. "You know I can't, you'll send for help, or attack me with something -"

"It's-" she said through her teeth. " _Hurting_ me. Please."

He put his face in his hands.

"You'll get away from me and send for Clint or you'll bring down a satellite or something and - and how are we gonna make a new home," he went on, low. "If you run away to - Bucky Barnes, or someone else? No. I can't. It's you and I, just you and I. And - well, not a baby but... I'll get us a new puppy, and we can have as many as you want, all of the breeds, anything, anything you want-"

"I WANT YOU," she said, loudly, employing the use of her long ago singing lessons. She threw her voice so far it echoed far behind the locked door. "TO LET ME GO."

He flinched, appeared troubled.

"I can't," he said, truly apologetic. "Not until you love me, again. And - I know it'll be hard, but I'm not going to deal with this behavior. If you need me, I'll - be outside."

Through the snowy film over her eyes, she watched him get up, hesitate, and leave. There were no lights, no windows, and the walls were just carefully scooped out mud.

Even if she could get out, where the hell was she? Where would she go? How would she get away?

In her brain, something fuzzy made an inquisitive noise. An echo of something loving and safe. It took her a second, feeling like she was sorting through megabytes of corrupted data, but no matter how many curious noises her brain made, she couldn't remember what it was, like a song she could hum but didn't know the words to. She listened to it, sniffling, sucking back tears, wondering what the familiar and gentle feeling was.

Whatever is was, it felt important.


	38. Chapter 38

ALF received bad signal from Momma.

What is bad signal from Momma? Always have signal from Momma.

ALF watched Broo.

SLEEP MODE Y/N?

Broo had eyes open, but breathing slow, circulating deep. Broo was not responsive when ALF patted knee joint.

They were on a big plane. Broo had put ALF in bag under his chair. The man beside Broo was making loud noises like Thor made, like Momma and Grandpa Ton-ee made, but eyes were closed - that was SLEEP MODE.

Broo was Unknown Mode.

Momma was still bad signal. That was not correct. Momma always had signal, never bad signal.

He contacted JARVIS.

_ALFBOTBEST:_

_Bro!_

There was only the slightest of pauses before a response.

_JustAVery replied:_

_Yes, little brother?_

If ALF had feelings, they'd be happy. Momma had programmed him to respond to touch screen pats and sometimes when JARVIS or Broo just said words he felt good responses like words were pats. When JARVIS said 'little brother', ALF felt heart pats. He was quiet in case Broo was SLEEP MODE.

_ALFBOTBEST said:_

_Momma has bad signal for ALF. Bad signal for Bro?_

It took JARVIS just a second, but it felt to ALF like sad sighing.

_JustAVery replied:_

_One second, please._

Bro was always the politest bot!

_ALFBOTBEST said:_

_ONE SECOND_

_TWO SECONDS_

_THREE SECONDS_

_FOUR SECONDS_

He was having fun, counting seconds. It gave him something to do. Broo had not given him anything to do but  _be still_  and  _don't talk to me until we are away from people, they might try and take you away, okay?_  And ALF was Broo's BESTBOT, so he wouldn't say anything until they were away from people because he did not want much, but he did not want to let Broo go away when he had SAD FACE.

_JustAVery said:_

_I'm having difficulty finding her. One moment._

ALF wasn't an impatient bot. It wasn't in his programming. But he liked to know things.

_ALFBOTBEST said:_

_How many seconds is a moment, Bro?_

As it turned out, seven. It was seven seconds to be one JARVIS moment. He committed it to memory.

_JustAVery said:_

_I cannot find her personally. I am sorting through public files now._

Then he went quiet for a long, long time. ALF waited. Peeked on Broo. When ALF thought Momma's signal light went from bad to weak, ALF tapped against the square in the system that resembled the space a human heart would be, and Momma poked it back.

ALF poked it again.

This time, Momma's poke was softer, less certain. She did not identify him, her memory bank was corrupt.

_ALFBOTBEST said:_

_Why bad signal?_   
_JARVIS IS SAD NOAW_

But Momma didn't reply, in text. Momma sent emoticons, and they were all bad ones. She sent a screenshot of the inside of a dark room with one candle. It was not good. He didn't have feelings, but he did not like that. ALF couldn't even detect any phones around her to text them and tell her to call JARVIS right noaw.

ALF listened to her steady stream of emoticons, listened to them get intercepted and bad signal, again. When she found good signal, ALFBOTBEST sent:

_It's OK Momma_   
_Broo will help_

_ALF will help_

When she didn't send anymore, but her signal was weak and not bad, ALF thought it was SLEEP MODE, and left her alone to recharge and find a better signal.

Again, peeked at Broo and saw his eyes closed. That was SLEEP MODE! All humans SLEEP MODE. ALF settled back into the bag, waiting, because he was a patient bot and Broo told him not to talk to him until they were away from people. But Broo would help, he would know what to do when they landed.

ALF settled into the bag, and shut his lenses.

* * *

Loki was... meditating, on what he was feeling. He'd always been a strictly logical man, but understanding himself as well as he currently did had come at a very high price, and it was not something to be overlooked lightly. He focused on the feelings in his chest, identified them as: anger, fear, nervousness, and...

Something else. Something vaguely heroic.

He didn't know what to call it, but it was something that made him want to get up and find Darcy, see to her safe return. He wasn't sure, how or when, only that Darcy Lewis, in all her tiny human splendor, had grown on him. Once, he might've considered her a weed or unsightly fungus, but instead found her more useful, then that, inwardly useful.

She did not serve him any purpose - he had no reason to use her, nor did she have reason to use him. Ultimately, she was just his... friend. He had trusted her, and she had trusted him, and even after he'd lead her to believe a lie, she had been there to welcome him into her friendship once more.

Anger, fear, nervousness...

"I want to protect her." he muttered.

The tips of his ears felt _cold._

He was -  _protective_ , over her. Not the same way he was protecting his own interests, or maintaining his sense of justice. Not even in the way he might leap to conclusions to spare his own psyche, in a preemptive maneuver to shield his too-fragile heart. He didn't want Darcy, in the sense that she was to be utilized, but still, he understood that he did, somehow, _need_  her.

His nose was like ice to the touch. He scowled at his human hands, then resumed thinking.

Now he understood that Darcy was his friend, yes. His first thoughts were to vengeance - to creative and painful deaths he could bring upon the stupid former lover of his friend. She was his friend, how dare any mortal put hands on-

But the blessed cold went away.

With a deep breath, he held onto his patience, his many, many hours of card building and handling, perfecting a trick. He held onto it with both hands, feeling as though he was balanced so precariously on the sharpest blade he'd ever known.

"I want to protect her, because she is my friend." he repeated it, like a mantra, over and over again, until the next words came. "But I will not harm anyone to achieve it."

The merciful feeling swept over him from crown to toes, much like a bucket of ice had been poured on his skull without any of the mess. Slowly, he lifted a hand before his face, and found it steaming faintly before his eyes.

"Interesting." he murmured, and flicked his eyes up to the roof. "JARVIS?"

"Yes, Sir?"

"The temperature in here is as per the normal?"

"Yes, Sir." he said, and Loki thought he heard a drawl of distaste.

He looked at his hand again.

"I will not harm anyone to achieve Darcy's safety," he said again. "But I will not sit idle and let them wonder about like a gaggle of children. Where in this tower, is the library?"

* * *

Bucky had plans.

He was kind of surprised, really, that after as many wiping and brain re-wiring's as he'd been through, that somehow he remained so...

Insidious.

He blamed the Soldier. 

"Buck." Steve warned, pitched low. He didn't look away from the road. "I know that look."

"What look?" he tried.

"You're a handsome bastard, pal, but coy just ain't a good look on you." Captain America said matter-of-factly. "Now, I don't know how much Loki knows about Darcy and her - _situation_ , but he said she didn't want no one killed over it."

"And I ain't gonna kill him."

Steve sent him a quick, side-long look.

"That worries me more, somehow."

"It should." Bucky said softly, without paying him much mind.

He couldn't afford to. Internally, he was having a mild conversation between himselves. The facets of his personality had been, just, a little bit split up.

Bucky was cocky, but he was meticulous, and that never changed through out all of himself. He was protective and essentially a good man, with his coils of occasional moral unworthiness. He was funny, a lover and a fighter.

James was a little more malleable, but far more adaptable. He was without real drive or purpose, seeking physical comfort and struggling to self identify. Perhaps unsurprisingly, James was his most comfortable default, where he could be indecisive and in the middle of his various selves.

"Buck?"

"Mn?"

"You okay?"

"Mm."

The Soldier was mechanical in nature. He knew that Darcy made James calm, and that Darcy made Bucky happy, and when they were at ease, so was he. He did not have to hurt or be hurt when Darcy was around. The fact that Darcy had gone AWOL was simply unacceptable. In the Soldier's mind, he was slicing through his plan of attack.

"I don't know what that face is," Steve muttered. "But I don't like it."

"Still a handsome bastard?" James retorted, without much heat.

James was fading. Bucky was pushing him away, trying to drag the Soldier up through him. He needed the precision, the drive, the unrelenting force of the well trained ghost. The Soldier was thinking, planning, dissecting, couldn't focus on coming through anything. James took one look at Bucky and sort of, ran, at him, jumped into him. James and Bucky were one person.

The Solider was momentarily confused.

 _Well,_  Bucky thought.  _This way, at least you have all the information._

 _I'll be corrupt._  he stared at his hands, his metal and human hands, twisted in his lap.  _You have all those feelings._

 _They help_. James thought.  _They provide drive._

 _I don't need drive._  The Soldier was frowning, frowning hard, because the James and the Bucky were staring and waiting for him to do something he wasn't entirely sure he knew how to do. He took mental steps forward, approaching with caution. He'd only been around a handful of times out of the ice-box, but he knew that information was good. They never told him all, only some.  _Mission Objective?_

"Buck?" a large, warm hand settled on his shoulder. "You with me?"

 _Find Darcy._  he thought, and sent Steve an easy, entirely false, smile.

"Till the end of the line." the Soldier answered.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, I know it's rare that these endnotes get read but let me explain.
> 
> I started writing the end to make it a satisfactory conclusion - a commenter who I will later praise, lest I give it away now - said something that got the gears going, and kinda got stuck on this bit.   
> I know it sucks! I'm sorry. But I'm not going to post sub par, half assed chapters, lol.  
> It's nearly over anyway D:
> 
> But thank you to those who read and comment! :) x


	40. Chapter 40

"I spoke to her a few times." Natasha said softly. "She seemed nice."

They were crouched, collectively, over Jennifer Lawrence's immobile body.

"She was."

The mark around her throat from the injection site was only a little swollen, but to all appearances, she was only asleep. She'd been a kind, relatable doctor. Clint had leaned on her pretty heavily pre-Loki, and she'd be about the only person he'd see, if SHIELD had've made him go.

He just stared, unblinking, at the doctor's pretty, wounded face. She was still warm to the touch.

"It's been less than seven minutes." Natasha went on. "That's a heavy sedative, to shut her organs down."

"It would've been, to take Darcy out." he let a silent breath go. Reached out to gently remove the doctor's hair from her face before it dried into the blood spilt from her nose. "Any word from the oldies?"

"Nothing as yet." she pulled out a phone, texted Steve, and hung the device loosely from her fingers as she looked around at the devastation of the room. "Did Darcy ever do this, when she was with you?"

"The wires?" he didn't look away from the doctor. "Pull them outta the ceiling like that? No. Things used to shake, lights used to come on. Once or twice she changed the channel on the TV without thinking about it, could skip songs on my iPod she didn't like. Not this." he ran a hand over his mouth, swearing lowly into his palm.

Natasha's phone vibrated. She flicked through the words, scrolling only once.

"He thinks Barnes is up to something nefarious." she mentioned. "His word. 'Nefarious'. Someone has to stop him and Bruce doing crosswords in their spare time."

"What else?" Clint's eyes skated across the floor, studying, analyzing. He found something a little odd, and leaned over to pluck it out of the carpet. A cold drop of dread sank into his intestines and took root in his spine.

_No._

"Pepper called him." Natasha read. "Tony's not cooperating."

"Tony Stark, not cooperating." Clint was on auto-pilot.  _No._  "Stranger things have happened."

Natasha's smile was very small.

"He's buried in a pretty purple notebook, not talking."

Clint lifted the fletching, the tiny feathers used to maintain steadiness on the back of darts and arrows, holding it up between them. They were dull red in colour, with expensive black wire wound around the stems, a black, hand painted weight nestled at the base. Distinctive. Not a lot of people dyed their feathers or hand bound them, it was an unnecessary detail and required a lot fiddling. Clint had stopped doing his own at least ten years ago, although fond of it on the odd occasion.

Natasha's eyes fixed on the feathers. He could hear her thinking it, before she opened her mouth.

"No."

"Does this," he said, suddenly rough. "Look familiar, to you?"

"Clint..." she replied, husky voice pitched low. She studied the feathers for a surprisingly long time, mouth parted in shock. "Why?"

"Because of me," he said, with devastating calm. Although his guts were in knots, although he was cold inside to his heart and marrow, there was absolutely no time to panic, and no room for his emotions to interfere. The second he lost that control, he was going to lose the ability to find and save Darcy. "Because of course I did."

Natasha shut her mouth. He wasn't wrong, exactly.

"It could be coincidence. Ian trained under you. Maybe he's particular about his colours."

"He isn't, and I never taught him how to bind his fletching." he informed her, still very, very calm. "It makes sense. Ian was a trained  _observer_. He was supposed to be a sniper, more likely a paper pusher. So how could he get away, how could he hide from me for so long, without outside help? This, this makes sense."

"It can," she said calmly. "But how could he have found out?"

"It doesn't matter. Because I know it." he swallowed around a dry throat. "Ian's reinforced delusions. Being able to duck under my arrow -  _shit,_  Tasha, I had the thing trained on his eye. You know how many people can dodge 'em? I'll give you a hint, I'm lookin' at one of two."

She frowned. It was entirely expressive, the lowering of her brow, the downturn of her mouth.

"I have an idea." she suggested. "It might not be a very good idea, but it'll find Darcy faster, and will keep everyone more or less safe."

"I didn't know you cared about Darcy." he mentioned.

She stared at him, something heavy weighing on her gaze.

"I quite liked my little family when they were whole," she said, quietly, the pretty words laced with threats of death if he thought to mention it to anyone else. "And I grew quite fond of her cupcakes, when I managed to get one."

"Yeah." he looked at the fletching pinched between his thumb and forefinger. "What are you thinking?"

"We call Cap and Barnes. Use them. If this is as personal as I know it is, he'll know where you'll think to look for him. He'll be waiting. I'll be surprised if he doesn't have backup of his own."

He looked past the feathers to the doctor's face. Every bruise, the crackling blood on her mouth, everything, he was going to inflict it, ten times and more. The woman had been Darcy's friend, his confidant and one time lover. She had been kind. Gorgeous, funny, and warm. She'd been more than just a doctor, to him, and to Darcy both.

He was going to end it, finally, after so many years. He had to.

"Steve." Natasha's firm voice made him turn away from the doctor. "Get a hold on Barnes and come to the doctor's office so we can make some kind of plan." There was a pause, and her face twisted.

"I don't care what he  _thinks_  he's doing. Tell him to get off his high horse and get his ass here. It's far more dangerous than just Ian." she paused, sighed shortly. "Tell him it's HYDRA."

The allies looked at each other. It went without saying how much worse it was than that.

* * *

Tony, for the most part, just let Pepper hang out and dig her thumbs into his shoulders so he could read in peace, her beautiful perfume wafting around his consciousness.

Dum-E was standing silently by his side, claw resting on his thigh as if in comfort. No one said anything, no one moved. Not until he turned a page in Melissa Lewis' diary, when they'd expect him to speak - but no. He just read on.

It was, to all intents and purposes, a regular diary - except for the memories he'd never have of a daughter who never wanted him.

It hadn't been opened in years, crackling loudly when he separated the pages. The handwriting varied from page to page - sometimes in proper sentences, sometimes just run together paragraphs. Sometimes the information was irrelevant to him, more about Melissa Lewis' sex life or bad trips or intense highs, but he read through it all any way, his brain highlighting the points that wounded and soothed his heart.

" _Dear Diary._

_I won an all-expenses paid trip for two to Aspen for a month. I don't know any dealers up there and I know I can't make it through the airport without getting caught. I'll buy liquor to get me through. Darcy is very happy. It's a beautiful place in the pictures. I don't remember entering the competition."_

He flicked through to a few pages later.

_"- I've never seen Darcy so happy. She looks well fed and glowing. She loves the lodge and she hasn't had to dismantle anything for weeks. The people love her. She has friends. I don't want to take her back but I need to go home. A month was hard enough -"_

The next page was heavy handed, pressed hard into the page, shaky.

_"Darcy ran away from me at the airport and when security put her on the plane beside me and told her to behave on her way home, she yelled at them that I was a bad mother and they were forcing her away from her real home._   
_No one believed her._

_I'm not a bad mother."_

He disagreed, and flipped a few pages forward, seeing the dates jump through years.

_"Dear Diary,_

_Today Darcy fixed the TV with a screwdriver. She's seven, and I've never even seen her play with a TV before, but she fixed it somehow. Tony would have a heart failure."_

Tony wouldn't have - he would've helped. Probably gotten sidetracked, but at least seen what she was doing, and if she was doing it properly. He swallowed, didn't want to think of his parenting potential to a baby Darcy, and flicked through a few crusty pages.

_"Dear Diary,_

_Tonight, Darcy crawled into bed with me and cut her hand open on a bottle cap. She didn't even cry, just hid it from me and tucked under my chin, wouldn't show me how she was hurt or where, and I said that she got it from her father. She told me she wanted to know what he was like. I told her he was a disappointment."_

Tony kept reading, the next page with large, slanted letters, one paragraph taking up nearly two whole pages.

" _I watched Tony Stark on TV with Darcy sitting on the floor. She saw him with two blonde women and looked back at me to ask why he had two wives. I told her Tony didn't have two wives, he had no wives. She asked if he liked boys. I told her sometimes. She said he didn't have any wives or husbands because of stupid face-hair. I agree."_

Interesting. Adorable. He had missed everything. He was going to miss out on everything more.

" _Dear Diary,_

_I found an old microwave on the side of the road and bought it home to see what Darcy did. At first, she pretended to bake with it, had tea parties with her teddy. I fell asleep, and it had legs. It was walking without a control, teetering all over the kitchen. Tony would have known how to get it to stop. Tony probably would've given it arms. But I stepped on it and broke the legs and now Darcy won't talk to me because I killed her pet. It wasn't even alive but she told me it screamed when I hurt it-_ "

He flicked the page as the rambling descended into hysteria, ending on smudged marks he couldn't quite make out. The next visible sentence was tightly written, as if whispered, in nervous, dark scrawl.

The first line made his skin crawl.

" _Barney tried to get Darcy high. I don't know how much he gave her she's only twelve and shes so small and shes been sitting very quietly for a few hours but shes mostly upset about the needle and I'm not sure if I take her to a doctor if they'll take her away so I'm just waiting for the come down-"_

He flicked the page.

_"There was no come down. ? ? ? ? There wasn't even a high._ "

And she said absolutely nothing more about it. The next entry was years and years later, when Darcy was thirteen.

"- _Darcy got blackout drunk on schnapps that the upstairs neighbour was stupid enough to offer her. Now she's sitting in the middle of the lounge with a laptop on her legs and a screwdriver in between her teeth, telling me she's got everything figured out. I told her that her father was an alcoholic. She told me it wasn't hereditary, and then she passed out. She snored like he does when he's wasted."_

The next page was torn in half, tucked into the crevice of the spine. When he put it together, all it said in big letters was:

_"I'M NOT A BAD MOTHER."_

"Are you going to talk to me?" Pepper asked him gently. She kissed the middle of his back, smoothing hands down his shoulders to wrap around his waist. He felt caged and controlled, with her physically holding him together, like that. "Tell me what's wrong?"

He turned around in his seat, the diary got handed to Dum-E. He took her face in his hands, threaded his fingers through her fine, soft hair. She kissed the inside of his wrist, and waited patiently.

"I'm a bad father." he said, miserable.

"No," she said warmly. "I don't think you are."

"I don't want to be a bad father. I want to be a good father. But apples and trees, Pep," he lifted his head, stared at her incredulously, eyebrows up. "Do you know what I grew up with for parenting? A butler."

"I know, Tony." she said, softer.

"And I'm a visual learner. So how can I give her the best when I'm the worst? I was trying to tell her - that you know. I am hers, technically, by blood. But I'm a better friend, is my problem, and I like to be better than the best."

"It's a habit." she nodded.

"Also," he winced. "I kicked Bruce out of the tower."

"That was unfair," Pepper soothed. "You can always invite him back."

He made a noise, hid his face against her slender neck. He'd never understand how so thin and willowy a woman could be so strong. He wrapped arms around her, releasing a hot breath against her chest. She was soothing him with gentle words, softly stroking his hair.

"I want to help them, find her."

"You're still very drunk, Tony."

"I'm always drunk."

"JARVIS said you can't use the suit." she reminded him.

"I'll-... I can still help." he stayed firmly hidden in the woman's arms. "I want my daughter back. I can talk to her, now. Explain."

"Explain what?"

"That I'm sorry that I wasn't there." he said, at once. "And I want to be her dad. Even if she hates me. I want to look after a baby Darcy."

He didn't really register the silence, swimming pleasantly in the smell of his lover and the haze of his drunkenness. He didn't really register the first drops of wetness in his hair, even when they were patted away quickly. She kissed his temple and made him sigh, before easing him off her and holding him firmly by the shoulders.

"Here's what I know." she said, firmly. Her eyes were shiny, and very, very blue. "You're going to sober up. You're going to get into contact with Bruce Banner. You're going to figure out who has Darcy, and you're going to figure out how to get her back. You're going to do it with your brain and not the suit, and you're going to let the team help you. Because they love Darcy, and they're out in force looking for her, but I think it'll be a little more complicated than that. I'll put the coffee on."

She kissed the tip of his nose.

"And then we'll find Darcy and she's going to be fine, and then we're going to bring her home."

"Home." Tony repeated, and nodded slowly, the image downloading to the hardcopy of his brain. Darcy in the Tower, smiling, happy, bouncing on her bed and so, so excited, that he had a room for her. When she'd come into the lab and work on things in quiet genius. "With me?"

"Yes, Tony." she petted his cheeks, swooping to kiss him once. "Home with you."

* * *

"I - I don't know, I don't know if I can do this." Ian said, shakily, nervously, into the phone. "I - she's really, she's really angry. She doesn't want me, she doesn't want to be around me-"

"It's only been two hours, champ." came the chuckle on the other end. "Settle down. She's probably just been told for so long that she's gotta hate you. Give her time to see reason. It'll be alright."

"No, no I don't think it'll be alright, it's about as far from 'alright' as it can get. She hates me. And I - I did the wrong thing -"

"Hey, easy, easy now." the voice was gruff. Ian took in a shaky breath. "I told you. Time and proximity. She's gonna love you again. I've got eyes up here, alright, I'm keepin' an eye on everything for you. This was the deal. You get your girl, and I get Barton. Everything is a win."

"But," he said, desperately. "How do I know that once you get him, you won't up and leave? She's been living with the Avengers. I  _know_  Darcy, I know what she's like - you said yourself that Tony Stark showed up at your house -"

"That's irrelevant to this. He was there for her mother. I told you once, I told you twice. She's a reformed slut of a thing." there was shifting noises, the click of a bottle against his teeth, and the smacking of his lips. "Now, listen, alright. Get hands on her. Gentle like. She'll have no choice in the end, programmed to respond."

"I don't want to," Ian said, miserably. "She doesn't want me to."

"I told you I looked after the kid, didn't I? Sixteen years, or so?"

Ian made a noise.

"If you've  _touched_  her-"

"She was a  _baby_. I'm twisted, I ain't a fucken animal. Listen to me." the gruff voice waited, while Ian calmed down. "I've seen her, time and time again, alright? I've seen how she is. She craves affection, she'll get it anyplace she can get it. She's just like her mother. Just - keep her for a couple days, she'll love you no time flat. I get Barton, you get Darcy-"

"How do I know," Ian said loudly. "That you won't up and leave after you get yours?"

"Because I wouldn't of given you a year of training to fuck off now. Alright?" he listened to Ian's breathing. "Told ya. We're partners."

"Right." Ian nodded. "Brothers in arms."

"Yeah, brothers, sure." Barney said, a smile winding on his mouth. "And I'll treat you just the same as my brother, champ. Sit tight, it won't take him much longer yet."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ... Someone totally picked up on the Barney thing. Kudos. ;)


	41. Chapter 41

"His name," Clint said, very calmly. "Is Trickshot. He's in league with Ian, probably trained him as long as he's been away. That makes the both of them very, very dangerous."

"Dangerous," Bucky muttered. "How dangerous?"

"Put it this way," Natasha said slowly. "He knows how to disappear."

"So do I." was the growled retort. Steve's brow came down, but all he asked was:

"Who is he, Clint?"

There was only a second's hesitation.

"My big brother."

The room went quiet. Natasha took the helm, shifting her weight and folding loose arms across her front. To anyone else it was a casual maneuver, but to Bucky's keen eyes and Clint's knowledge of her, it read as bracing herself.

"He's worked for HYDRA on contracts. Even if we both know-" she looked at Bucky with steel in her eyes. "-that once you work for them, you never get out, Trickshot is absolutely one of the best marksman and disappearing acts in the company. Your Soldier would've been impressed."

Bucky's upper lip pulled back in a snarl, like a feral dog about to bite. Steve bumped his shoulder with his own, and the Soldier settled down, folding arms across his chest.

"He's been gone for  _years_ ," Clint muttered, wiping a hand over his mouth. "Joined the army when I was a kid. We had a deal - he'd join up and leave me or he'd join up and I went with him. He didn't take it so good when I didn't show. I got held up on the day. I was  _going_ , but, he left without me."

"So he's using Darcy to get back at you." Steve clarified. "For rejecting him as a brother."

"More or less." he put his hands in his pockets, twirling the feathers between his thumb and forefinger.

"You said he was dangerous." Bucky was thrumming with energy, his metal arm clicking through gears, whirring as if ready to spur into action. No one would know without the audible tells - he was still as a statue, looking like every inch of him was carved out of marble. Until he spoke, he didn't look alive. "How?"

"Sadistic." Clints eye twitched. He had a flash of memories he didn't want to examine too closely, Barney leaning over him, mouth twisted and sneering. He remembered his brother's width and natural strength, his hard earned circus muscles and the extra head and a half of height he'd had when Clint had last seen him. "Tricky, manipulative. Which is why it was done through Ian - the kid was already on his way to full-tilt insane, and he had a history with Darce."

"But is he," Bucky repeated, through his teeth. Clint looked at him evenly. " _Dangerous_?"

"Well. He's got the same training as me, without the moral high ground." was the  _very calm_  reply. "A vendetta twenty years in the making, and substance abuse issues out the ass. He worked for HYDRA in his spare time, managed to get away from them when he felt like it, is a notorious marksman and murderer, among his brighter highlights. What the fuck do you think?"

Bucky lowered his face, staring at Clint from behind his lashes, but it did precisely nothing to hide the utterly scathing look he gave him.

"Watch that attitude," he warned. "Or I'll find him myself."

"Good luck." Clint said, jerkily shrugging one shoulder. "You think you can, go for it. I wouldn't have told you if it were going to be easy."

Steve shifted his weight, looking between them all.

"Why did you tell us?"

"Because." Natasha purred, sounding husky and inviting. Bucky remained unfazed. Steve, not so much. "We're a team, and we need the help."

"You can push his buttons all you like, Romanov," the Soldier spat. "You cannot push mine."

"Easy, Buck." Steve muttered from the corner of his mouth. "I know what she's doing. But she's right - we are a team. And if this guy is tricky, and with even half of Clint's natural talent for aim, we're gonna have problems as is. Does he have known allies we can shake down?"

"It's too personal for that." Natasha shook her head. "This will come down to him and Clint, if he has it his way."

"He won't need them." Clint intoned, matching Bucky's unrelenting stare. "He's  _tricky_."

"Wait." Steve said, firmly, and motioned to the once vibrant doctor on the floor. "He ever been proficient with chemicals and all that noise?"

Clint shook his head.

"Well then he's got a connection to someone who can make something that would develop a drug to put Darcy down. That's an ally."

"Or a favour. But he's right." Natasha concurred. "He knew she was a mutant, but how would he know if the drugs would work on her?"

"I don't know." Clint muttered. He looked down at the doctor. "I just - I don't know. If I remember my brother, he was a planner. A sit tight and wait for the shot to line up to the barrel, not a take aim and fire kinda guy. He's patient. He waits. I couldn't tell you how long he might've been planning this - how he got Darcy's DNA, or how he made the connection to Boothby, the one fucker who would go to hell and back to drag her away. If he's cornered the right people, he could have some kind of biological weapon or -"

"It won't make a difference." Bucky snarled. "The mission is to find Darcy-"

"The  _mission_?" Steve repeated, giving him a hard look.

"You hearin' isn't bad as it used to be," Bucky snapped. "Don't make me repeat myself."

"The mission," Natasha interrupted, her voice a cold drawl. "Is to  _contain_  the situation."

"If the bastard has allies," Bucky told her, narrowing his eyes. "They all die."

"Contain, not destroy." she retorted. "So it can be correctly dealt with. Now that Trickshot has Darcy, and he knows it's Clint's bait? If he gets away now, he'll always be a lingering threat. He and Ian both, will always be a threat, and if there are others involved, they'll know how to hit the heart of the Avengers. We deal with it now, entirely. Contain it all now, save ourselves trouble later."

 _Decimate everything,_  he heard.  _And protect Darcy's future_.

"Contain." he inhaled sharply. Then, out of habit more than anything: "Mission parameters accepted."

"Okay..." Steve said slowly, tapping his finger against his lip, eyeing Bucky thoughtfully. "What we focus on now is locating Darcy and identifying the details to her situation so it can be -  _contained_."

"We start with what we know." Natasha agreed. "Clint, you haven't seen him for years, there are only so many places that he would go that you would know about."

"Right." he muttered.

"There might be something that triggered him." Steve pressed. "Where you were supposed to meet him at, when he left for the army, maybe?"

"It was just a bus stop, not exactly something I remember. There'd be no where for him to hide Darce, anyway - it's all just a shopping strip."

"It has to be something personally connected to you." Natasha reached out, gripping his shoulder tightly, giving him a shake so that he lifted his guilty eyes from the dead doctor and looked at her instead. She squeezed for reassurance, for solidity, to inform him without words that she'd be by his side regardless of what he chose. "Think, you and your brother."

Clint's world was expansive, but the number of places he and his brother had been together were decidedly limited. The circus, he kept coming back to the circus, with a yellow and red big top, hay on the floor, a twin bed between two growing boys. He remembered being up on the high wires without a net, remembered slicing the webbing between his thumb and forefinger trying to juggle knives for the first time, and the looks he'd get from people - like he was a sideshow, running a ring toss.

But that... That wasn't where they'd been at their closest, the truest expression of family. The circus was the beginning of their deterioration... when the Swordsman had picked him to teach archery, not Barney. When Clint had started to find his own way, to become his own man, and Barney was heavy lifting, mostly, a shadow, out on the sidelines.

Home, where Barney had taken his beatings and goaded their father when he'd turned on Clint. That was when Barney had saved his life, when he'd been a selfless big brother with a purpose to protect.

Clint remembered a small two story house. Too far out for the neighbours to hear them screaming, or the smashing of glass, or see two little boys run for their lives. He remembered... yellow grass, as long as he stood tall, and in a flash, orange printed curtains with a yellow daisy pattern, blowing over a bloody sink. His mother, bent over it, holding her nose.

"I don't know where it is or even if it's still standing but -" his breath, when drawn in, was trembling. He got the distinct impression that without Nat actively holding his shoulder, he would've tried to walk away. "-Where we lived together, when it was in a house, when it was with - mom. And I know what it looked like, but fuck if I could give you the address or a state or anything other than what color the kitchen curtains were." he swallowed.

"It was where it all started, so."

"It'll be where it ends." she finished, softly.

"We'll get Tony on it." Steve said, whipping out his phone. "You guys go back to the tower - that means you too, Buck - and see what you can do."

"What are you going to do?" Bucky growled.

"I am calling an ambulance." he said mildly, and dialed 911. "There is a recently deceased woman in this room, and I won't let her next patient find her by accident. Stay with them, Buck, they're gonna find her."

Bucky did not like it, not one bit - but the Soldier reminded him that he had no more information - Stark was going to make things go fast as he could, if not faster. So with a sharp nod, he strode out of the room, flanked by the redhead and the archer.

* * *

Loki had thought that, perhaps in the ambiance of a library, he might be able to hone his focus and figure something out within himself. But he couldn't. All he could think about was the last time he'd been in a library.

It had been with Odin. He would've been on the cusp of manhood, gangly and awkward, but regal to a fault. His voice had been cracking, he had not wanted to read to the king and disillusion himself as anything but princely in nature. His pride had overcome him, and he had told Odin under no terms would he be reading to him in the future. He was not a child, and Odin was not incompetent, and he would read to himself.

It hadn't occurred to him how final and biting he'd been until that moment - reflecting on the tone he'd used with the king. Anyone else would've been flogged, possibly beheaded... but he, a frost giant bastard, got away with it?

He breathed vapour.

Any further uncovering of his past was interrupted by the Lady Pepper, dashing past, long limbs coordinated and urgent. Leading her was the tiny Lady Jane, her eyes wide in shock.

"What is it?" in several long strides, he crossed the room and braced against the frame, looking desperately between them. "Have you news?"

"Nothing much." Pepper replied, and went on without prompt. "Come on, we're going now."

Jane took off without them, but they had superior leg length and caught up to her jog in a few sure steps. The elevator opened and shut and took them to their required floor without a command, JARVIS having had listened to them talking. Tony was hunched over a keyboard in front of four monitors, eyes flicking between all screens. He was reaching out to touch and type, then hunch over the keys, then mutter to himself, rinse and repeat.

Bucky was standing straight and stiff as a board, nostrils flared, his metal hand flexing around nothing. He stared at the space between his boots, looking quite like Loki's laptop when he left it alone for too long and the screen went dark.

Natasha was reclined against a desk, legs crossed neatly at the ankle. She surveyed them all, pausing on Loki the longest, before resuming her observation of Clint, chewing on a thumb nail.

"What else do you know?" Tony asked the screen.

"He's a different blood type to me." Clint muttered. "He got cut up bad once, the doc's said next of kin might need to make a blood transfusion."

"Your next of kin?" Loki asked politely.

Clint grit his teeth, didn't look away from the screens Tony was glued to.

"My brother."

He let that knowledge settle.

"I didn't know you had a brother."

"Yeah, well. It's not something I advertise." he said tightly.

"Is he the one who has taken Darcy?"

"He orchestrated it." Natasha interveined, possibly seeing the burst of tension in the line of Clint's shoulders - the way his veiny forearms were flexing, the way he had turned to glare at Loki. She didn't like his chances, if Clint's temper snapped. "Where is Thor?"

"Still in the sky." Jane replied, going to stand over Tony's shoulder, putting hands on the back of his seat. "He'll come back shortly."

"He's gonna miss out. I got something." Tony said, and JARVIS helpfully projected it. "Barton, this familiar to you?"

It was a network of complex tunnels, buried deep under the earth. It mapped out everywhere, under each state, intersecting like a spider's web across the map. In New York alone, there were five different shafts, one of which leading a few miles south of where Darcy's last known location was. It branched off in all directions, leading to more forks and branches and possibilities.

Clint frowned.

"No."

"It should be. Apparently this is how HYDRA thought he was skipping out on them, which has apparently been discovered almost in totality since it's all over the net and people have been exploring. Thank you Natasha." he rolled on the chair to bow at her, earning a proud little smile. "JARVIS-"

"Showing collapses and known access points."

The map rendered again. Dark grey areas were lit up to indicate collapses in the structure, knocking out the mid west and far north. Red areas indicated frequented hotspots for locals or teens, having unearthed them from the spilled files on the internet. Yellow areas were marked in strong lines to show where known openings were, and green areas were marked for infrequently traveled areas, well away from the public or roads.

"Sync up possible areas that Barton lived as a kid. Farm. White house, two storey." Tony swivelled in his seat. "Anything else? You own horses? Grow vegetables?"

Clint had to think about it, but ultimately shook his head.

"Wheat, maybe? I don't know. Wasn't like it got maintained."

Tony spun back in his chair, eyeing the maps struck locations as JARVIS applied the new filter to them. In a matter of seconds, they'd dwindled down the entire USofA down to only a thousand-odd locations.

"Well done." Loki said softly. It didn't go unheard, just ignored, but he didn't mind - if he had've expected a reply, he would've said it louder.

"Now from here." Tony tapped at the keys, sniffing self importantly. "What are your parents names? Who would've owned it, back in the day?"

"They didn't own it." Clint supplied. "We were renting."

"Any idea who from?"

The frustrated exhale of air was all the indication Tony needed. He filtered in rented properties back when Clint was a boy, searching for sparse, farm specific two storey houses without any known production status. From a thousand, it went to six hundred.

"Load them up into a front view of each house." Clint said firmly, taking a seat. "Put them in a que. I'll know it when I see it."

Thor came in, surprisingly quiet, touching Jane's shoulder to announce himself. She leaned back into him, pulled an arm around her waist.

"It was over thirty years ago," she said. "You were so young. How will you be sure?"

"I'll _know_  it," he said, flatly, flicking eyes at her, before Tony. "When I  _see_  it. Do it, already, we're wasting time."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm getting there. Slowly. I'm sorry!!   
> I'm working six days through to christmas and beyond, and although most of this is written, I am a tired and miserable bitch when I come home.   
> But I am still writing. It won't be forgotten, and it will be finished!  
> :)  
> x


	42. Chapter 42

It was surprising that she managed to sleep, not so surprising she had horrific dreams about the night she was stabbed. What made it worse was waking up to the abuser laying along on the tiny cot beside her, holding her head to his shoulder, soothing her as she struggled, and struggled hard, to get away.

"You're going to hurt yourself, Darcy," he pleaded. "Please, please stop it."

"LET ME GO AND MAYBE I WILL!" she brought up her knee, successfully driving it to the squishy space between his thighs.

He doubled over, winded, and she knocked him off the bed. Deliriously dizzy, hands sweating and wrists wet with smudged blood, she yanked one wrist through the loop of her binding and got onto her knees, fussing with the other. It wouldn't give, and Ian was getting up.

In a fit of panicked, painful brilliance, she reached to the back of her head, and straight up ripped out the bug attached to her skull.

It hurt.

The flood of information nearly whited her out, causing her to only spare a glance in at the tiny device in her hand. It was circular, with four sharp claws, several hairs and a little bit of scalp attached to it. Her fingertips were wet with red, and the back of her head was warm, thick blood pouring down the back of her neck.

She threw the device to the corner of the room, and catalogued what she knew.

There was a phone somewhere near her, another above them, some wireless signals that felt like internet, and not much else for miles.

ALF flitted to the forefront of her mind, watching through her eyes, using his tech to show her what he saw. He saw Ian favouring a crouch, saw weak points in the hunched over stance - bright green boxes highlighting things for her benefit with the labels: 'PUNCH' and 'KICK'.

So naturally, she lifted her fist.

"DARCY." Ian shouted, and stumbled, before lunging forward. "NO!"

_MOMMA YES_. ALF shrieked in her brain.

She brought her fist down hard on Ian's cheekbone, causing him to faceplant against the bed. She punched him while he was down, still yanking at the rope on her bound wrist - Ian grabbed her thigh, nails digging in hard.

"NO," he snarled. "NOT AGAIN, I AM NOT GOING TO LOSE YOU AGAIN!"

_KICK_

_KICK_

_KICK HIM MOMMA_

_KICK HIM HARD_

"Can't-" she wheezed, jerking hard to free her legs from under herself. Ian rocked back onto his feet, loomed over her, his face an exact replica of the moments before he drove a knife into her womb. She crumpled, physically deflating, curling down into a small ball. "Ian - don't-"

_MOMMA,_  ALF was whirring in her brain.  _KICK PUNCH SOMETHING, MOMMA PLZ_

Ian lifted his hand, his knuckles facing her cheek.

"I really didn't want to hurt you again." he said darkly, eyes flashing. The shadows cast by the single candle made his face warp, made it twist and curl until she was staring at something other than a human man, all through ALF's hyper keen lenses. "But you just would be still-!"

_FOR ALF_? the voice internally pitched.  _FOR BUCK-EE?_

_Bucky_. she let out the world's tiniest sob.  _Oh, baby. Don't let anyone know how I died-_

_NOT GONNA DIE MOMMA KICK PUNCH GO_

"- You brought this down on yourself, Darcy," Ian was hesitating, talking, hand still lifted, still ugly and twisted above her. "You made me do this. You make me hurt you. This is not my fault-"

_NOAW_ , ALF was screaming.  _KICK NOAW!_

He showed her a box round Ian's lower stomach. He was still hunched enough from her initial attack, but her legs were bent under her bum, she wasn't going to be able to kick him.

There was something loud - it sounded suspiciously like a sigh.

_DAMNIT MOMMA. S'OKAY. ALF FIX._

* * *

From across states, Bucky Barnes lifted his metal fist and struck out, punching Steve square in the shoulder as he boarded Tony Stark's second private jet.

"Ow." Steve said, more out of habit than anything, turning around to blink at Bucky. "What was that for?"

"Hell if I know." he muttered, looking at his hand. He punched Steve in the chest, but all the strength usually in his arm was not there. He frowned, flexed his fingers, then cocked his fist back to his ear and let it shoot forward.

Steve stepped aside, watched Bucky stumble after the hand.

"Uh." Tony lifted a brow at him. "What?"

"That's -" His entire arm felt -  _electric_. Like when Darcy touched him, but, not. There was a lended strength, a momentarily stolen control, and he would know. "It's Darcy, she's just borrowin' it. Go on, pretty girl." he cooed to the arm.

"Sock him good for me."

* * *

Ian flew across the room, smacked against the hard earth wall, and crumpled on the floor.

_GO MOMMA GO_

Darcy looked at her hand, then Ian, wheezing and curled on the floor. Her knuckles weren't even red. She hadn't even felt it, only the crunch of bones and sinew in Ian's thigh.

_Thanks, baby._

_BEST BOT ALF!_ He sent a cheesy grinning emoticon.  

She struggled with the rope around her wrist before using her left hand to pull on it, hissing through her teeth as it ripped on already torn skin. She had yanked with such force that she tumbled back off the bed, scrambling onto her feet.

He screamed. Loudly.

She took one look at his thigh - the strongest bone in his body, bent on a right angle toward the roof. He rolled on his side and stared at her with wide, wet eyes.

Darcy's breathing was erratic, coming to her in bursts and leaving her in wheezes, because even if she felt sick with the sheer agony in Ian's cries it  _felt so good_.

She wanted to  _hurt_  him, wanted to beat at him with her new found strength and make him  _beg_  for mercy - make him fear for his life. She wanted him to wake up in a cold sweat  _years_  from those few seconds, be screaming and crying, sleepwalking and throwing up, and occasionally threatening to stab Captain America.

And she lifted her foot to step in his direction, feeling sick but so sure of herself, until ALF's voice filled her head again.

_No, no, Momma,_  he said firmly.  _Get away noaw. Let Buck-ee smash later._

She wanted to cry. It wasn't fair. There was strength, resolve... He was laying there and howling, he was down and out and she'd done it! She was strong. She didn't have to be scared of him, again. She blinked ALF's vision from her eyes.

_Okay._  she thought.  _Okay. For you, and Bucky, and Jane, and... And maybe Tony... I'm gonna come home now._

_Ok-ee. See you soon o_ _ut of battery noaw. SLEEP MODE ACTIVATED._

Taking the first steps away was the hardest part, her hands trembling. Ian's eyes were fixed on her, and undoubtedly he'd be staying where he was, but she didn't turn her back on him until she'd closed the door.

The phone in the next small room had already dialed a number she didn't know she knew.

"It is good to hear you," JARVIS said. "I'm patching you through now."

She knew it was Tony before he even spoke. She could feel it in the tremble on the line, the way that JARVIS had given such a tiny pause, as if gauging the reaction he'd get.

" _Dad?"_ she said, pitched, desperate, before it was yanked out of her hand.

"You called me that a couple times, actually." Barney mused, huge and hulking, flat blonde hair gleaming in the low torchlight from his hand.

She stared, mouth open, listening to Ian bawling in the other room, none of the volume dampened by the thick, solid walls.

Barney had always been a big guy, had always been stoney faced, serious, but occasionally paternal with a trickle of humor he'd sometimes let out. Mostly when he was drinking, though he drank very rarely, preferring to be high - which made him stupid and melancholy. She had the sudden memory of her first hangover spent face down in the toilet bowl, of Barney bringing her a glass of water to swish and spit, of frying her up bacon and eggs to eat on the bathroom floor.

"Barney!" she said, and embraced him, hugging tight. "Oh my god - oh my  _god_ , Barney, we've gotta get out of here - he's in _sane_  -"

"It's alright." he said, amused, roughly patting her shoulder. "I gotcha."

And it sounded so good.

Vaguely, Darcy was aware that there was tracking software in the phone in Barney's hand, but wasn't sure why. Like, everything was fine, guys. She handled it. Late to the party, but whatever - never send a superhero to do a former intern with a tazer's job. 

"Oh my god, I missed you." she said brightly, before half dissolving into tears. "I never thought I'd be - so, so happy to see you!"

Through the phone, she could hear Tony slam his fists on the table, Clint start growling swear words. Bucky was cracking his human knuckles with his metal fist, trying to find the place in his sensors that lended her his strength. She wanted to tell them,  _nevermind, it's okay, this guy's my mom's crack addict boyfriend_ , but even just thinking it made her blood go cold. Something was very, very wrong here.

"Why not?" Barney said easily. "What did you do to the kid?" He jerked his thumb over his shoulder, motioning through the wall

"I'll explain later. Do you know where are we? Doesn't matter, we should go while we-"

"What'd you do to make him cry like that, huh?" he repeated. "Hurt his feelings some more?"

"I-" she put a sleeve up over her mouth, her eyes beginning to water from guilt. The dirty air was making her feel suffocated. "I just... punched him."

"You nut him good, did ya? Never heard anyone scream quite like that from a punch, but hey, more power to you." he shrugged massive shoulders. Darcy's back hit a wall - she hadn't realized she'd been backing away. "I guess if you turned out anything like your mother, you'll find a way to hurt a man if you want him to hurt."

"Barney?" she slid down the wall a little, legs suddenly not wanting to cooperate. "What are you doing here?"

"Lookin' after you." he tilted his head, considering the boy on the floor. "Course, wouldn't of had to, had you not done him in. Was supposed to be a shadow, y'know, quiet like. And seein' as I know you like to talk - and the noisy prick would not stop talking - I figured he was a good distraction for you. I mean, you were a good kid, pretty tricky 'n' resourceful, always have been, but shit. Didn't expect to have to step in, here."

"He _kidnapped_ me. I wasn't exactly going to roll over and play nice." she said stiffly. 

"Yeah, I'm getting that vibe, now. Miscalculated a fraction, a see what happens?" he said, and gave her an entirely too familiar smile. It didn't quite make sense in her head, but it could've been all the nerves and the drama. 

"So, I'm just gonna leave, now." she said slowly, edging toward the door behind him. He shifted, bringing one arm in front of the other, meaty hands clasping together. A crossbow was mounted on his wrist, the darts looking like something from a far away dream. She couldn't remember where she knew them from, only that she did, in fact, know them.

"Why?" he quizzed. "Havin' a nice little chat, for now, aren't we?"

"Look," she said, sharp voice pitching.  "I don't know why you're here, or how you know Ian, but the fucker stabbed me, and killed my puppy-"

"And your baby, from what he told me." he listened to Ian still screaming, then lifted the phone to his ear. "Did you get all of that?"

Darcy could hear Tony through the line, even if Ian was beginning to become very loud.

"Every word." Tony said.

It took Barney a second, but the realization dawned on him.

"Dad, huh." he mused. "Oh, that's rich."

"About a hundred billion dollars richer than you'll ever see, Rubble." came back the low, nasty retort. "Here's the play. You let Darcy leave, and I'll forget your face. You deal with your shithead brother by yourself - he's game to go if you are."

"What if I say I'd rather not?" Barney grinned, beckoned Darcy to him with a jerk of his head.

Her feet didn't want to move, until he aimed the crossbow at her, and gave her a dirty leer, masquerading it as a smile. Slowly, she went, being manhandled under his arm and through the small doorway.

"I'd say you don't know who I am, and how much trouble you'll be in." the Iron Man warned. "I've got no problems stepping into your little family spat and putting you in the ground. Either you end it, or I will."

"So you are in contact with my brother, then." He prodded her in the back with his crossbow, steering her forward, first up the stairs.  "He there?"

"Might be." Tony said mildly. "I'll put him on once we talk things through. It's him you want, right? Well, you got him. I'll gift wrap him and drop him off if you like. But you let Darcy go without a scratch."

"See, thing is," Barney drawled, reaching forward to open the door for her. She took off like a shot, bolting through the room, hand on the front door knob. "That's not something I can promise."

An arrow pierced through the back of her calf, making her slam into the door and slide down it, her hair flipping over her face.

"She's faster than she looks." Barney chuckled, crouching beside her. He took the arrow by the feathers and gave it a little tug, causing her to scream. "Hear that? Go on, say hello to daddy. Go on."

She clenched her teeth, glared at him, tears dripping off her nose and into her hair.

"Say hello to your daddy, now. We both know you always wanted a real daddy, don't we? Now's your chance." he goaded, then pulled on the arrow. She held back a scream and whipped out at him with an elbow, knocking the phone out of his hand. "Oh, you little shit. C'mere!" He grabbed a handful of her hair, pulling on newly torn skin from where the bug had once been pushed, and she did cry out when he manhandled her onto her ass, her back to his chest, framing her neck with his ham-sized hand.

He picked up the phone with the other, tucking it between his ear and shoulder, forcing her still with the crossbow aimed at her temple.

"She can be so mean, when she feels like it." he told Tony, down the line. "Give her a chance to talk to her daddy and what happens? Nastiness."

"Tony!" she said hotly, sniffing up an uncomfortably solid wad of snot. "Bring the Jericho, nuke his ass back to the stone age-!"

"You got it, baby girl." he said, and she could feel JARVIS queuing it up. "You're in trouble now, Rubble."

"Was I not before?"

There was a surprisingly honest laugh.

"I wasn't  _motivated_  before."

"And you are now?"

"It doesn't take much."

"Well, I've always liked a challenge." He struck out with his foot, breaking the shaft of the arrow puncturing Darcy's calf. It must've bumped against nerves, or something, because her whole leg ached with it. Getting stabbed was messy, sure, but the leg hurt in a different way. Everytime she tried to move her foot, the spearhead reminded her that, hey, no, you've got a splinter the width of your little finger, don't do that.

She couldn't even help it, trying to keep her sobbing quiet.

"My little brother there?" Barney asked, rough, suddenly serious once more.

"Barney." Clint's voice was calm. Darcy started crying louder, trying to contain it and finding herself totally unable. Clint had only mentioned his brother to tell her about their lives in the circus, before leaving him, as a lonely little boy, to join the army. "What are you doin'?"

"I was just tryin' to have a nice chat with my step kid, and maybe my little brother." he said with a sneer. "But you didn't show,  _again_."

"The hell was I supposed to remember where we lived? It was thirty odd years ago. Had a couple knocks to the skull since you left."

"I left?" Barney repeated. Darcy got the distinct impression that he'd forgotten she was there, that he was holding onto her more for him than to keep her there. "You didn't show."

"You idiot. I was comin'. Got caught up in traffic." there was a pause. "I showed up ten minutes late, Barn.  _You_  left  _me_."

"Traffic?" the elder Barton replied in a hysterical snarl. "You blame this on traffic?!"

"You didn't have enough faith in me to wait ten fuckin' minutes," came Clint's calm, far too calm voice. "You deserted before you even joined the army."

Darcy was trying to be quiet, her breath coming to her in short sobs, sniffling and trying to get comfortable. She shifted weirdly and her leg sang a very ugly note, making her muffle a scream against Barney's arm, rather than give him the pleasure of knowing how hurt she was.

"Let her go, Barn." Clint said, more urgently. "Hate me all you want, I'll find you and we'll duke it out, but let her go. She's just a kid, she hasn't got anything to do with me. I'll come out there right now."

"Don't bullshit me, little brother." Barney warned. "The whiner told me you lived with her and didn't fuck her. That's how I know she means something to you. Something like  _family_. And we both know how loyal you can be when it comes to your family." the words were thick and bitter from his lips. He tightened his arm on Darcy, kicked out at her leg again.

The pain was enough to make her go very fuzzy around the edges. The lights above them flared dully - the fridge doors swung open, but nothing else happened. Everything was unplugged, and had been unplugged, for a very long time. Whatever noise she had made, though, it was enough to break Clint's calm veneer, because when he next spoke, it was with every inch of his country accent, and spat through his teeth.

"You're a fuckin' dead man," he seethed down the line. "Don't give a single fuck if you've got the whole place rigged to blow, I'm gonna fuckin' take ya with me, y' hear? You're  _done._ "

"Ah, there he is," Barney cooed. "I knew you were in there somewhere. See, this is why I couldn't let the girl go - because otherwise you'd be annoyingly level-headed. Come on, little brother. Come on home. Bring your friends, see what happens."

He casually put the phone down before he could hear Clint say anything else, hoisting Darcy up as he stood. She was shouting, crying out, and sent a frenzied elbow up, aiming for his eye. It clipped his eyebrow but made him curse anyway, throwing her heavily onto a dusty, dirty couch.

Something awfully hard and cold squealed under her weight in the cushion. Barney aimed the crossbow at her face.

"Don't you move a muscle or I'll put an arrow in y'fuckin' eye." he growled. "You got more fight than I thought you'd have. I'm not gonna lie, I might be a little bit impressed."

"You," she told him, with all due heat. "Haven't seen nothin', yet."

He grinned. She felt it set her soul on fire, and bared her teeth at him, furious with herself for recognising Clint's face in his own.

It was Clint's smile but she hated it, and missed him, so much in that second, all she wanted was him and her on a couch, Teen Wolf on marathon, him critiquing Allison's form and recommending what bow she should use. She missed ALF, and Bucky, and she had so much to say to Tony Stark. She wasn't ready to die. She had to punch him and hug him and tell him that she wouldn't mind having a superhero for a dad.

"Say, remember those singing lessons you took, back in the day?" Clint's smile, Clint's busted looking nose, in a spiteful face. She felt Bucky's metal hand reach out, settle on her own left hand, curl around her fingers and hold tight. "Sing somethin' pretty for my brother, and your daddy, won't you?"

He aimed the crossbow at her knee, and pulled the trigger.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> For Nishah, who said nice things and nearly made me cry :)


	43. Chapter 43

Bucky wanted to curl his hands over his ears and block the screaming out.  
The Soldier took the wheel, and maintained a totally blank face.  
Clint made to snatch up the intercom making all the horrific noise, and shut it off, growling through bared teeth at his brother, but Natasha smacked his hands away and put his arms in a lock so JARVIS could keep finding their position. They knew she was in America, still, but the trace was narrowing on the map, circling over so many places but getting ever closer.  
Darcy was more heaving than she was screaming.  
Loki didn't bother with pretenses, just allowed himself to hold his face in his hands and try and think of something, anything else, sitting heavily on a chair because his knees did not want to support him. She was just a girl. She was innocent and bright, and she did not deserve this. He ached, fiercely, to do something, anything, but was still useless, without any powers.  
Thor took one look at Jane and engulfed her in a hug.  
Pepper squeezed Tony's shoulder - his knuckles were white, his fists were wound so tightly on the desk - then left the room, shaky and quietly crying to herself.  
"I've found her," JARVIS said. "I've found Darcy's personal signal."  
He bought up a map of Iowa, zoomed in on an expanse of yellow grass. In the centre, a tiny white house with a brown roof. It was well removed from everything, a blue car and grey truck out side. Smoke was drifting up from the backyard, and when JARVIS altered the view, it appeared to be seeping through the earth itself.  
Clint remained locked in Natasha's arms, even if he went sniper still. His face was wretched with memories - he sagged heavily against the assassin, who locked her legs to support his weight.  
"I remember." he said, weakly. "Dad was - sure we we're gonna go to war 'n' - he made a bunker. Peice a shit bunker, tiny and only dugout with some steps... Darcy's powers'd be useless. There's nothing in there for her to manipulate, even if she had control over it."  
The Soldier nodded once, simply.  
"The house, the bunker is under it," Tony wondered. "Will it be stable?"  
"Shit." he struggled on his feet, still listening to Darcy's sobs. "I don't know, Stark. I got locked down there a handfulla times, never thought about it."  
There was a long pause.  
"Far be it from me to order anyone about," Loki said, muffled into his hands. "But someone, get up, do something. I can't stand to hear her weeping. I can't stand it." he wiped his hands over his whole face, leaning back in the chair.  
"Were I with my powers, I'd be there in an instant. No booby traps, nothing. I'd be in and out and I'd even leave a copy of her image there so you could rain whatever chaos you wished on him." he sucked back a deep breath through his nose, catching Jane's eyes, peeking out from over his brother's bicep. "My lady Jane, would you accompany me to the lounge? Perhaps the lady Pepper would join us for a strong cup of...tea."  
Jane slipped out from Thor's arms.  
"Okay." she sniffed. She didn't even hesitate when he offered his arm, just accepted it and leaned against him gratefully. "Maybe - maybe something stronger?"  
"I was hoping you'd suggest so." he murmured, and hovered at the door, looking back.  
Everyone was staring at them, from the Widow with calm on her face but not in her heart, to the Captain, hovering with unsubtle nervousness next to the Winter Solider. It was he, the cold veteran, that Loki spoke to.  
"I promised you something, once, and I am not in the habit of breaking my oath, however much a liar I am. I shall plead her case to my father," he said evenly. Thor nearly choked on his beard. "Perhaps other worldly help will aid her."  
Bucky nodded, though the meaning to him wasn't entirely clear. He understood that something monumental had happened, and appreciated it.  
Over the intercom, Darcy had started sobbing.  
The astrophysicist left the room with the Trickster god supporting her arm.  
"Will it do anything?" Tony asked Thor, sort of bewildered. "If he talks to your father?"  
"Our father." Thor corrected, and stared after Loki, long after he'd gone. "And - it could not hurt to try. He would hate to be useless when one of his own is in peril. I did not think he'd speak to him willingly, ever again, let alone to ask help..." he refocused when Darcy gave a sharp scream.  
"STOP SHOOTING ME, ASSHOLE, I'M NOT A GODDAMN PINCUSHION!"  
"Oh, come on," Barney's voice, low and rough, cooed. "You sing so pretty when I do. Keep up those pretty noises and I won't have to shoot you."  
"I," she said, very loudly. "AM GOING TO ENJOY IT WHEN SOMEONE PUNCHES YOU IN THE THROAT. I HOPE IT'S THOR, WITH HIS HAMMER."  
"Aye." Thor rumbled, fingers twitching to hold the legendary weapon.  
"Sounds weirdly sexual." Barney mused. "But here's the deal. I've got twelve of these arrows here, still left in my gaurd and well, it just won't do that they're there. I think I might just keep pressing all those spots that hurt so bad, until someone shows up. Avengers, they're called? Not doing much avenging, are they?"  
"JARVIS," Tony said, moving across the lab in his chair to a table, taking up several tools before pushing off the desk and scooting over to a box of spare parts. "Give us a layout of the home. Cap, you do your strategy thing, everyone get in the jet."  
"What jet?"  
"My jet. Jesus, do you know who I am? My jet, mine. I have several. We'll plan on the way."

* * *

  
Loki'd wondered up to the roof, surprised when JARVIS allowed him the access. When he'd last been on the roof, he'd stabbed Thor. He'd wanted to rule the world.  
He eyed the crow that had landed beside him.  
"Hello, Muninn," he murmured, and scratched behind his head. The large bird bowed respectfully. "Have you come to hear my plea?"  
The crow cawed, lowly.

* * *

  
"You know," Barney said, the crossbow aimed at her hipbone. She had a bolt in the back of her calf, one lodged somewhere beside her knee, and now one in her thigh and guessed he was just going to keep moving them up, and tried to steel herself for more. Something in her brain tried to remind her to relax and she wouldn't feel as much, but that was buried under a lot of panic and misinformation, and couldn't be relied on. "I expected you to cry more. You cried a lot as a kid."  
She grit her teeth and looked away, trying to ignore the deep pain in her shin bone and kneecap, the burn festering along her thigh. It made her feel sick, ready to violently throw up everywhere. But she wasn't ready to figure out how she'd roll over to do that.  
"But maybe it's a Lewis thing." he wondered. "Because when I killed your mother, she didn't cry either."  
She blinked at him. Her bottom lip wobbled.  
"You did not." she whispered, hoarse. "Kill my mother."  
"She figured me out. I mean, she was dumb from the drugs, but when she'd sober up, she was sharper than I gave her credit for." he gave her a thoughtful once over. "Right after your dad showed up, it kicked her in the ass. She wouldn't take anything any more. It made getting her blood a little harder."  
"You didn't." she accused.  
"Well, yes I did." Barney went on. "The DNA had to come from someplace, to figure how to knock you out. And after the uh, cocaine, incident, back in the day, I figured we'd need something a little - tailored, to you. I was told it'd put you under for a couple hours. It only lasted what, thirty minutes?"  
"You didn't," she repeated. "You didn't kill my mother."  
"Yeah, I did. Right between the eyes, nice 'n' neat. She had enough time to figure it out, 'course, I'm a gentleman like that. Had to explain why I was killin' her. Why she wasn't allowed to call you. Why she wasn't allowed to let you know my last name. That's how I figured it out, you know, you talked to your mother, your mother mentioned it. Him. Mentioned my brother. I went lookin', turned up Ian. And I been plannin' this for over a goddamn year, so I figured she wasn't gonna screw it up for me by pretending to be a proper mother and callin' ahead."  
"She isn't." she repeated. "Isn't dead."  
"Oh, come on, Darce." he leaned forward, arms on his thighs. "Like you haven't been ready for her to keel over since you were seven. At least my way she went quick." he waited, studying her face.  
She started crying. Not with sobs, not with words, just with tears, streaming down her face. She couldn't stop, it was a flood from her eyes, blurring him the longer she stared.  
Something exploded at the front of the property.  
Barney cracked a grin, got to his feet, peering out the window.  
"Good." he said, nodding to himself. He glanced at her, mortified, still staring at him. "Now, you just, stay there." he lifted his wrist and shot her in the hip, making her cry out hoarsely, grit her teeth and arch her neck back.  
There wasn't a lot else she could do. Everything was in a daze. Her mother, dead? She had expected it, but at her own hand, under the influence. Darcy had prepared herself for her surprise phone call, the coma, any number of unsightly deaths. Convulsions, drowning in her own vomit, walking out into traffic, forgetting to eat.  
But somehow, Barney? Barney had not been factored into any of those, ever.  
"Barney," she said, miserably. "I don't - understand - why?"  
"Understand what?" he glanced at her, nursing the arrow standing tall and proud out of her hipbone. "The brother vendetta, or the killing of your mother?"  
"Everything." she winced, feeling hot blood pool under her fist.  
"Well." he said, and considered her. "Hurting you was never in the plan, if that makes you feel any better. That's what the whiner was for. And killing your mother was only a little side effect of her developing a conscious, so do with that what you will." he watched the jet land, a tremble rolling through the dilapidated house and shaking loose so much dust as another landmine was triggered.  
Darcy could see the jet rock violently up onto one side - then come crashing down again. Something was on fire. She squeezed her eyes shut, started praying to all known gods.  
"Sit still and don't move." he told her, then carefully strode across the room to start climbing the stairs. He missed the third one, and the fourth one, and the fifth, taking a large leap over them. The third from the top and the last step got a miss as well, before he disappeared far past what she could see.  
Darcy could hardly move enough to lift her head and peer over the back of the couch, one hand attempting to stem the blood at her hip - was she supposed to pull it out? Or not? - while the other hand braced under her weight, something beneath her giving an ominous squeak of rusty metal.  
Clint caught a ride on Thor's arm, but she could see Bucky and Steve sprinting across the flat expanse of yellow grass. The thunder god swooshed across the expanse of land and kicked in the door, which is about when the front porch completely blew off.  
Darcy screamed, throwing her hand up to block the spray of splinters and dirt that shot into the room. She felt something hard bounce off her arm but it wasn't sharp enough to cut. She coughed, shaking as her bloody and dirty fist went back down to the arrow in her hip. Things were starting to get a little woozy, but she blinked away the muck in her eyes and called out.  
"Clint?" she said, voice trembling. "Thor?"  
Through the smoke slowly filling the room, she watched as the archer carefully made his way over to her, crouching. Already, he had a nasty wound above his eye, not to mention the four sizable splinters sticking out of his bare arms. He crouched by her side and delivered the sweetest, most gentle kiss to her forehead, the ghost of his lips on her brow, rough hands framing her face.  
Tony followed in a much more frantic pace, in kevlar but not much else, his brows pitched in the middle, and familiar smirk no where to be found.  
"So," she said with a wobbly smile. Tears poured out of her eyes. "If you ever needed to make an arrow in the knee, joke, now would be the time."  
They both looked to the broken shaft protruding out of her kneecap, buried under the bone and into the tendons. Tony went white with fury, mouth pursing. Clint just looked sad.  
"Darcy. I'm sorry." he told her. "I'm - Darcy I'm so, sorry-"  
"Don't be, it's not - ow -" she squeezed his shoulder, scared when her whole hand slipped in blood, and she didn't know who it belonged to. "Not my best, but, I'm under a lot of stress, right now."  
"Move." Bucky said, moving silently across the floor, heavy boots barely disrupting so much as a puff of dirt.  
"Stop." Tony bodily elbowed the advancing spy in the stomach, making him pause out of shock more than anything. "Don't touch her. Don't move her. Look."  
The assassin bared all his teeth, upper lip pulled back in a feral looking snarl.  
"Outta my way, Stark--!"  
"Bucky." Steve warned, and pointed to the cushions under Darcy's backside.  
She glanced down and saw a hard line, a straight edge of an impression under her butt. She adjusted and it creaked, promising that something was amiss.  
"He - he uh, told me not to move." she winced, still with a fist wrapped around the bolt sticking out of her hip. "So. Yeah, that makes sense. I don't know what to do with the arrow - do I pull it out?"  
Bucky bent over the side of the couch to see her face, his hair loose and swinging forward, curtaining them both.  
"Mission objective; contain the situation." he said low, voice vibrating in his chest. "Override: Nullified due to mission re-write. New mission; remove subjet safely from the situation. Secondary objective to decimate captor with extreme prejudice."  
"Who gave him that?" Clint muttered.  
"Bucky did." Bucky said, without looking up. He blinked once, staring only into Darcy's eyes. "Bucky issued the order to rewrite the mission given to him by Natalia Romanova upon the recent change in circumstances."  
"His what?" Tony said flatly.  
"The change in circumstances." the Soldier repeated, and twisted his face. "Bucky identified emotions, and doesn't care about anything other than Darcy's removal, right now. He changed the mission." he paused, blinked, winced.  
"I, changed the mission. I have emotions. I want to make Darcy safe."  
She knew he wasn't touching her, but she could feel his bionic arm, the urge to trace over her face and feel her pulse against the sensitive screens in his fingertips. He wanted to hug her, more than anything, but he stayed perfectly still, half pitched over the arm of her boobytrapped couch.  
Steve patiently averted his eyes to the ceiling and did some deep breathing exercises, hands tight on the strap of his shield. Tony nudged Clint aside to slice open the cushion and see what kind of plate Darcy was resting on, scoffing at the internal logistics.  
"Oh, this is insulting." he muttered, and looked up at the surrounding superheros. "Someone get me a pair of needlenose pliers, and I'll get her out of here in two seconds. This, this is crude. You could've done better wasted and sleep deprived." he told Darcy, matter-of-factly.  
"Which, of course you would, you're brilliant. Even without the mutant thing, your biological input was always going to lean to intellectually advanced. I mean, I know genius isn't entirely inherited, but your mother is a smart lady, and even off her face high she had a few more intelligent moments than I've had assistants, and I've had a lot of -"  
"Is this what you think like?" Darcy said, pitching her brows. "This is what your brain is like? Because Jesus, Tony. One thing at a time."  
He looked up, hands in the cushion, sort of innocently staring at her face.  
"You called me dad," he said stupidly. "Before. On the phone." he looked into the guts of the cushion, but made no move with his hands.  
"I did." she agreed, and reached up to take Bucky's hand, because she was scared and tired and nervous. Emotional trauma just wasn't going to be easy to deal with. She didn't want to lose both parents in the space of five minutes. Her chin began to tremble.  
"I didn't mind." he muttered, almost entirely unintelligible. "I don't mind. Being your dad."  
She touched his shoulder with her free hand.  
"I don't, either." she informed him.  
He sniffed loudly, knuckled tears from his eyes, studiously started to cut wires and manipulate things in the booby trap.  
"This is wonderful." Thor said, beaming on them all. He had a very large cut on his bicep and he was absolutely covered, head to toe in dirt, but his white smile and blue eyes shone out of the dust like beacons. "To have claimed each other as family, at last."  
Steve hovered at the foot of her couch, casting his eyes around the small area. He made a noise.  
"How about we just deal with the sociopath and get our favourite girl the hell outta here, before we relax too much?" he wondered mildly. He looked at Darcy with a small smile. "How are you feeling?"  
"Could be better." she said lazily, attempting to fist pump. It didn't work. Stupid hand.  
"Alright, take it easy. Do you know where Barney went, Darce?"  
"Upstairs." she supplied, wincing. Her head was... tilting. She felt heavy, and clumsy, but hadn't yet moved. "Stairs... are not safe."  
"Thank you. S'alright, we'll take it from here. Bucky, when Tony gives you the all-clear, you take Darcy, you get her out. Tony, you stay with them-"  
"Like you could make me go anywhere else." mumbled the mechanic.  
"Barney's mine." Clint said flatly. "You two blonde meatheads just watch and learn. I'll show you a little regular human brawling. You're gonna love it." he told Thor.  
"I have no doubt." he inclined his head.  
It was all a very good plan, in theory. They almost had an easy camaraderie about it. And with her kinda-sorta-boyfriend, her makeshift brother, her actual, biological father, a triangular supersoldier and a Nordic god, she felt pretty safe and sane.  
"Hey," she said, kind of as an after thought. "Where's Nat?"  
To answer her question, Barney Barton came barreling down the stairs. He had one thin slice on his cheek, a more heavily bleeding slice on his forearm. He missed the first half of the stairs completely, bouncing down hard onto the last three. The first two traps deployed, long, metal spikes shooting out of the wood with near-explosive force. The last one got him in the leg, puncturing his calf, knee, and thigh.  
Natasha tried to step down - Darcy flapped her hand at her.  
"Not that one!" she said frantically, and the woman paused, before slinging her leg over the bannister and sliding down like a child. With a level of cool unfathomable, she stepped on and over Barney, hissing on the floor, then strolled over to them, looking like a satisfied cat bring a mutilated corpse to her front door.  
Which wasn't entirely untrue.  
"You were taking too long." she said, evenly, and eyeballed Clint.  
He put fists on his hips.  
"Patience," he said, arching a brow. "You tell me it's a virtue."  
"You don't want to test the limit of my patience." she replied. "I'm on my period."  
Steve covered his eyes with his hand. Clint huffed at her.  
"And Barnes can try," Nat added. "He can't make cupcakes like Darcy can."  
"Aw." Darcy said, wincing. "I'll make your flavors. But before I like - totally space out because, uh, hello, blood loss, can someone go and get Ian?"  
She put Disney princess eyes on Thor, who nodded.  
"I don't even know if he's dead." she said mildly, eyes unfocused. "I like, broke his leg in half."  
"Doesn't take you long, does it?" Steve mused.  
Bucky lifted his head.  
"Summer of 1931." he said blandly, and Steve pointed at him.  
"We don't talk about that, Bucky." he warned. "We made a pact."  
Bucky's smile was the sweetest he could muster, half the Winter Solider pausing at the forefront of his mind. He looked at Steve, the tips of his flaming ears, and then down to Darcy, reaching out with a metal finger to stroke the very bridge of her nose.  
"Do you want me to go cave his head in?" he asked her mildly.  
"Listen, I don't know what happened in 1931," she teased, her voice slurring. "But I don't think it's worth a head caving."  
"Not the punk's." he smiled, lopsided. "The asshole who took you away from me."  
"From me." Tony corrected.  
"Actually, this had nothing to do with either of you." Natasha drawled, indicating Clint with a nod. "He tried to take her from him."  
"That's Clint's jam." Darcy agreed. "Whatever Clint wants."  
The arched stared at his brother, still impaled on his own trap, the spikes puncturing his leg matching, to a tee, the ones he had shot into Darcy. Only his were much, much bigger, plugging most of the wound when he wasn't struggling.  
"I'll wait, cuppycake." he said, his voice like gravel. "Until you're gone, before I dole out that particular... conversation."  
Darcy tugged on the Solider's hand.  
"See? He's got it. He's gonna do the justice thing." her trembling mouth tried to smile. "I just need you."  
He blinked and was nothing but confused.  
"Mission objective?" he asked her, voice low.  
She appeared to consider that, blinking slowly at him, her breaths shaky but even. She had tremors from the shock her body had put her in, but she overall seemed a little more aware than he estimated she would be.  
"Is snuggling an option?" she asked with a small, silly grin.  
The Solider could tell from her eyes, gone so glassy and out of focus, that she was losing her consciousness. And although he was made of winter, the idea of her smile any less than beaming made him more cold than any mountain, any kill, had ever made him.  
"Snuggling," he said slowly, a smile winding up for her. "Is always an option, for you."  
"Yeeeey." Darcy said weakly.  
"Aaaaand that's enough of that." Tony butted in. "With the snuggling. Jesus. Kid has a plethora of arrows sticking out of her, you can just wait. So come on tough guy, get my d---" it was on an awkward, choked splutter, that Tony stopped himself short.  
"My Darcy. My.... Just, do your lifting, thing, Tin Man."  
It wouldn't ever matter how much care he lifted her with, it was going to hurt regardless. He may have translated this with a look, because she went a touch paler than she already was.  
"Wait, wait, wait-" she said, and flexed her hand at Steve. "I know you've got a hanky somewhere on your person, boyscout. Gimme."  
Dutifully, he did. Tony scoffed.  
Darcy rolled it into a long rectangle, then folded it, and shoved most of it in her mouth. Bucky went soft all over, looking entirely like he understood. She motioned him to go, get it over with, and muffled her short scream of pain into the makeshift gag as he put his arms under her body and lifted her.  
"Easy, easy," Tony said, hands up, like he was ready to take over. A sweat beaded on his brow. "Gently, now. Take your time."  
Darcy expected, at that point, that between the pain and the exhaustion and the blood loss, that she might catch a break and pass the hell out. But no. Because why? That'd be easy.  
The walk across was fairly easy on Bucky's long, smooth stride. Loading into the jet was alright because it was off and not vibrating. But Darcy didn't want to be laid down, didn't want to let Bucky go, but didn't know how to ask for it. Bucky got the jist of her squeezing hands and grabby fingers and sat on the medical bed with her ass on his lap, arms wound under her head and around her waist.  
Tony, annoyingly, sat in the corner and watched with his arms crossed over his chest. The reminiscent glow of his arc reactor still shone over his forearms, but it was - not the same, somehow. It was duller, not as bright as the usual white and blue, more grey and smoke, kind of color.  
She frowned at him.  
"Move your arms." she said. She scowled at the genius, wiping her sweaty head against Bucky's kevlar. "Your reactor is different."  
"What?" Bucky murmured.  
"His reactor. I can still see it." she scowled. "Why is it like that?"  
"Like what?" he said, looking at his own chest. "What's it doing?"  
"It's -..." she stopped. The word she was going to use, instinctively, was 'sad'. She lifted her eyes to his face. "Are you sad?"  
The guilty look would've been enough, even if Bucky hadn't snorted.  
"No. I'm not. Why would I be? It's fine. You're fine, aside from the arrows in your legs, thing, Clint is gonna be fine with mussels and brussels there and do the Avengey thing, so, I don't have a problem. I'll just be here, not having a problem."  
Darcy blinked at him.  
"Okay." she said, and hugged Bucky around the neck. "You do that."  
The defeated silence was more painful than the arrow in her hip.  
But not the three in her legs.

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Essentially back because I told one of my friends about this story. She found and read it, and then told me I was cruel and horrible. Sorry guys.   
> It's nearly over!


End file.
